ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 18, 1996 TAG: 9612180032
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
A showdown between Giles County and the New River Valley Planning District Commission over a resolution supporting a new 765,000-volt power line has been avoided, at least for now.
The planning district's board agreed last week to rescind its endorsement of American Electric Power's preferred route for the power line after the utility announced plans to reconfigure the controversial proposal.
"I hope it stays rescinded," said Bill Freeman, Giles County's Board of Supervisors chairman and one of the county's representatives on the regional commission.
Giles County threatened to withdraw after the planning district commission's board voted in September to support the utility's preferred route.
Even though that preferred 115-mile route between Cloverdale and Oceana, W.Va., does not go through Giles County, the county Board of Supervisors has gone on record as saying the new power line is both unnecessary and unwelcome.
Several alternative corridors for the power line would cross Giles County.
Freeman maintained the regional commission's endorsement of AEP's route was inappropriate because it overrode the opposition of a member jurisdiction.
"I suggest we take the stand of [taking] no stand," he said.
Other planning district board members said they understood Giles' position but supported the power line for its economic benefits.
At the planning district commission board's October meeting, Freeman's motion to rescind the resolution was tabled after other board members balked over changing the commission's stand.
However, since that meeting AEP said it will propose a different route for the power line. The utility said it wants to satisfy environmental concerns about the project, which was designed to cross national forest land, the Appalachian Trail and a scenic West Virginia section of the New River.
In June, the U.S. Forest Service made a preliminary decision to forbid the power line crossing its land in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.
At the planning district commission's Thursday meeting, Freeman again moved to back away from the route endorsement. This time he prevailed, as the commission board voted to rescind its endorsement while a new route is being studied by AEP, a process that could take years to complete.
Freeman said he did not object to individual local governments passing resolutions about the power line, as Giles did. "We're back in," Freeman said of Giles' participation in the regional commission. "I think we're going to stay."
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