ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601200013
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
A FOREST SERVICE STUDY of American Electric Power's proposal has been further delayed by budget battles and snowstorms.
American Electric Power Co., worried that the U.S. Forest Service would delay yet again an environmental study of a proposed high-voltage power line, took its concerns to the Clinton administration this week.
As it turned out, the fears of AEP - formerly Appalachian Power Co. - were well-founded. The Roanoke headquarters of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests said Friday that it won't meet a mid-April goal for completing the study.
Dave Olson, a Forest Service spokesman, blamed the latest delay on the recent government shutdown and last week's blizzard. "We've lost a full month of work time," he said.
What's more, the Forest Service can't set a new deadline for completing the report because of the uncertainty of government funding caused by the budget impasse in Washington, Olson said. Congress has approved funding only through next Friday.
On Wednesday, Charles Simmons, an AEP vice president in Roanoke, met in Washington with Jim Lyons, assistant secretary of agriculture for environmental affairs. Simmons sought assurances from Lyons that the Forest Service would complete the draft environmental impact statement on the proposed power line by the April deadline. The Forest Service is a part of the Department of Agriculture.
Simmons wasn't available to react to Friday's Forest Service announcement, but Carl Persing, an AEP engineer in Roanoke, said the company was extremely disappointed. The draft document originally was supposed to be finished in July 1992, he pointed out.
The Coalition for Energy and Economic Revitalization, a labor and business group that supports the power line, noted that this is the sixth delay in the report, meaning increased study costs and threats to jobs and the reliability of electric service in Virginia and West Virginia. "A sound electrical system is critical to the infrastructure of this area," said Joe Haynes, a coalition spokesman.
AEP plans to build a 115-mile, 765-kilovolt power line between Oceana, W.Va., and Cloverdale in Botetourt County. The company says the line is needed to prevent power shortages in the company's service territory by 1998. Previous delays have already made it impossible to build the line by then, the company says.
The line's proposed path would cross the national forest, the Appalachian Trail and a section of the New River being considered for federal protection. The Forest Service has been analyzing the impact of the line on water supplies, wildlife habitat, communities and other resources.
George O'Nale, a power line opponent who lives in Craig County, was pleased with the delay. He had asked the Forest Service to hold back the report because actions by the National Park Service and the State Corporation Commission seem to have ruled out AEP's preferred route for the line, he said.
In December, the SCC agreed the line was needed, but directed AEP to look at alternative routes that would avoid environmental harm to Craig County's Sinking Creek Valley and Roanoke's Carvins Cove reservoir.
And the National Park Service indicated in a September conference call that included Forest Service and AEP officials that AEP's proposed crossing of the New River is unacceptable.
If AEP is forced to pick a new route, the Forest Service will have to open the issue to public comment again, O'Nale said.
Opponents like O'Nale argue the line would cause environmental harm and that the electricity it would carry is not needed.
AEP has been anxiously awaiting the Forest Service's draft environmental report because West Virginia officials want to see it before considering an application by the company to build the 80 miles of line that would run through that state.
Simmons said that the Agriculture Department's Lyons, who met with him for 45 minutes, told him he would see what could be done to complete the report. Simmons said he did not talk with Lyons about the merits of any particular route.
Whether the problem is a lack of resources on the part of the Forest Service, a lack of competence or a lack of will, AEP just wants the environmental study completed, Simmons said. The company has a public-service obligation to build the line and is doing everything it can to see the report completed, he said.
AEP has talked with a succession of Forest Service officials, from the local forest supervisor to the chief of the Forest Service, in an effort to get action on the report. Last January, Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas assured the company the agency would commit the resources needed to complete the study - but then it missed an October deadline, Simmons said.
"We are going to have to get an answer from someone," he said. The next stop up the chain of command is the secretary of agriculture, he said.
Olson said Bill Damon, supervisor of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, also was committed to getting the study finished and has told his staff he wants it done as soon as possible.
Lyons was in meetings Friday and could not be reached for comment.
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart: What happens next?by CNB