ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 7, 1996 TAG: 9608070047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
MEMO: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.
Resident after resident told Forest Service Supervisor Bill Damon Tuesday night they found themselves "between a rock and a hard place."
While they support Damon's preliminary decision that American Electric Power should not be allowed to build a 765,000-watt power line across national forest land, they didn't like a Forest Service alternative of having the line built across their private property, either.
Montgomery County residents poured into Blacksburg High School Tuesday afternoon to review Forest Service maps, charts, photographs and other items that were part of a draft environmental impact study that resulted in Damon's decision in June. Damon's preliminary ruling was the power line would have too profound an effect on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.
Tuesday's meeting was one of a series the Forest Service is having to get public comment on its draft decision before reaching a final conclusion. Halfway through the four-hour session, more than 100 people had turned out to review the information.
After thanking people for their comments, Damon would remind them that a decision on whether the power line could be built on private land was up to the State Corporation Commission.
Part of Damon's charge in reviewing AEP's request was to show how the line could be built without crossing national forest land.
AEP's preferred route for the power line would run 115 miles from Wyoming County, W.Va., to Cloverdale. En route, it would cross 12 miles of national forest land, the Appalachian Trail and a scenic portion of the New River in West Virginia being considered for federal protection.
That preferred route passes to the northeast of the New River Valley, through Craig, Roanoke and Botetourt counties. A second AEP route, filed at the state's request in March, would pass through Giles County and a lightly populated corner of Montgomery County.
But alternative routes the Forest Service proposed a year ago pass through northern Montgomery County, including proposals that would cross the New River near McCoy Falls, pass by the Preston Forest neighborhood and through the Mount Tabor-Catawba Valley.
That didn't sit well with Leon and Jan Geyer, who have lived in Preston Forest for about six years.
"I've heard inklings from people, but this is the first time I've seen the route," Jan Geyer said.
They complained that maps of the proposed alternative route were incorrect because their home and others were not on the map.
That's the kind of additional information the Forest Service wants to have as a result of the public meetings, the Geyers were told.
Leon Geyer said he opposed the power line coming near his home - or going anywhere for that matter.
"I've never met an electric company that doesn't like to build," Leon Geyer said. "We just don't need it, period. Don't build it, or put it somewhere else. ... Why is Forest Service land any more sacred than my land?"
Bernadette Mondy of McCoy combed through maps, pointing to a power line corridor and saying "this goes right through my back yard."
Still, she told Damon, she supported his "no-build" decision.
"It's scary, it's slightly confusing," Mondy said. "If you support [the Forest Service's decision], are you narrowing the options? I'm for no building at all on anybody's property."
Mondy and her husband live next door to the New River Junction business they operate in McCoy, renting inner tubes to river enthusiasts who come from miles around.
"That's an incredible natural resource we have down there. It has an awful lot of traffic. I would hate to see it destroyed," she said.
Jeff Janosko of the Roanoke County Preservation League said he has doubts any of the proposed 13 routes on the table now will come to fruition. He said West Virginia's Public Service Commission has rejected AEP's application twice, suggesting a more southerly route.
"Between the Public Service Commission and Forest Service decisions, I think this route is essentially dead," Janosko said.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 linesby CNB