Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 16, 1994 TAG: 9407160048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WAITEVILLE, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
More than 100 residents turned out in this community just over the border from Craig County, Va., to hear how Appalachian Power Co.'s proposed 115-mile, 765,000-volt power line could affect the Jefferson National Forest. The line would run from Wyoming County to Cloverdale, Va.
U.S. Forest Service officials displayed maps of alternative routes and explained how they were created.
Joe Neel, a farmer who owns 500 acres of land in nearby Zenith, has fought against the power line since Apco announced its plans four years ago. The line would run through his house, pasture and spring.
Neel, president of the 300-to-400 member group Common Ground, said he won't surrender his property, which has been in his family for 200 years.
"I'm not going anyplace," Neel said. "When they plant me under one of those towers, they can say they've [succeeded]."
Neel and others believe people have not been considered in the planning of the power line routes.
"We need to see us on those maps," said Cookie Cole, a Zenith resident.
Brian Cole, Cookie Cole's cousin, asked officials to weigh the residents' welfare as heavily as they had the animals'.
"Humans are more important than animals," he said. He urged officials to spend at least as long studying the impact on people as they did on the forest and wildlife. Nine months were spent on that assignment.
Officials told the audience they had not started calculating the power line's impact on private land yet.
Some residents don't need a study to tell them what the impact would be.
"This area we have is unlike any other," said Amy Cole South, Cookie Cole's sister. "You can't replace it once it's been destroyed."
"This is the closest you can get to heaven," Cookie Cole said. "God put us here to care for the land."
Mary Pearl Compton, a member of West Virginia's House of Delegates, shares the sentiments of her constituents.
"If Apco thought we'd settled down . . . they've got another think coming."
Compton, who represents Marion and Summers counties, strongly opposes the current routes, which wind all over her district.
She thinks Apco should build the power line along U.S. 460, railroad tracks or existing lines, rather than disturb the pristine environment around Peters Mountain.
The line "will severely impact the quality of life for people who live in this area," Compton said.
Two residents who want to see that quality of life maintained are 8-year-olds Jessica Ballard and Amanda McDaniel.
"We want to fight this power line, even though we're children," Amanda said. "When we sit on our front porch, we see beautiful trees, but what will we see" if the power line is built?
"We want to look up and see beautiful trees, not dead trees and power lines," Jessica said. "We want our kids to grow up to see the same beautiful trees."
Officials held similar meetings this week in New Castle and Narrows, Va., and Union; other meetings in Virginia will be held July 27 in Bland County and July 28 in Blacksburg.
by CNB