Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 14, 1994 TAG: 9407150039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NARROWS LENGTH: Medium
Opponents of Appalachian Power Co.'s proposal to build a 115-mile West Virginia-to-Cloverdale 765,000-volt power line were out en masse Wednesday in Narrows, and this time their outspokenness won a small victory.
Jefferson National Forest Supervisor Joy Berg agreed to modify the format of the two-hour meeting and stay as late as midnight to answer residents' questions. The session was still going strong at 10 p.m., with more than 150 people listening intently.
The session put Berg in the hot seat, trying to address opponents' charges that New River Valley and Bland County residents had been denied the same opportunity to comment on new alternative routes as residents along Apco's preferred route to the north.
The Narrows meeting, the second of five this week in Virginia and West Virginia, was the first chance for New River Valley residents to hear detailed explanations of how the Forest Service came up with the alternatives.
Those routes provoked an outpouring of criticism from anti-power line groups in Montgomery and Giles counties last week. They asked for, and received, more chances to comment at more meetings.
Those added meetings are set for July 27 at the Bland County Courthouse and July 28 at Blacksburg High School. Both will run from 5 to 8 p.m.
Berg's agreement to extend Wednesday's meeting came after angry outbursts from several members of the crowd.
As consultant Marc Lawlor tried to explain the details of how the power line's impact on the Jefferson Forest is being studied, one man interrupted him by yelling out a question. Donna Muhly of Dismal Creek in Giles simply walked up to center stage and stood in front of a map because she couldn't read it from the floor of the cavernous, steamy Narrows High School auditorium.
Their actions, and heated conversations as the first hour of the meeting ended, led to the extension.
In the meantime, Forest Service employees and consultants set up shop in several classrooms to display maps and answer questions on everything from the process to the types of wildlife habitat that could be affected.
In one room, Forest Service employee Jesse Overcash pointed out white-tailed deer and gray squirrel habitat that is crossed by one of the alternatives. In another, National Park Service worker Pamela Underhill talked with several people about the impact of several of the routes on the Appalachian Trail.
The power line foes objected to the individual meetings because they wanted to ask their questions, and hear the answers, before the group as a whole.
Narrows resident Cornelia Smith wasn't sure if the meeting produced much more understanding. ``I can't hear a thing that's being said in here,'' Smith said. ``They'd obviously done a lot of work on it,'' she said of the assembled maps and other detailed, technical documents put out for public view. Nonetheless, she said, they're ``kind of hard to interpret.''
by CNB