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Group may appeal power line decision to Supreme Court
Despite a major setback this month, opponents of a power line that would cut through a lengthy segment of Northern Virginia are not giving up efforts to derail the controversial proposal."We are hopeful," said Bob Lazaro, spokesman for power line opponent Piedmont Environmental Council.
He said the PEC is already planning to appeal to Virginia's Supreme Court a decision by state regulators to approve a plan to build a 500-kilovolt power line across several Virginia counties.
What's in the works is a 240-mile power line from Pennsylvania to a substation in Loudoun southwest of South Riding. The line is jointly proposed by Dominion Virginia Power and Pennsylvania-based Allegheny Energy.
Utility officials say the line is needed to take the strain off existing lines that may be overtaxed by consumers and may force rolling blackouts several years from now. Opponents, on the other hand, say the line is being built only to feed power to other states.
"This is not about Virginia," Lazaro said. "This is about shipping electricity up to the Northeast."
On Oct. 7, Virginia's State Corporation Commission, which regulates utility companies, ruled that Virginia's 94-mile-long segment of the line should be built. Officials in West Virginia also have given the go-ahead to the line. But the same cannot be said yet for regulators in Pennsylvania.
In August, two administrative judges in Pennsylvania ruled that utility officials did not adequately make their case that the line was needed. The decision now rests in the hands of Pennsylvania's Public Utility Commission, which is expected to make a ruling by the end of the year.
The line cannot be built unless approval is given by all three states.
Meanwhile, two elected officials have stepped up their opposition to the line.
State Del. Robert Marshall (R-south-central Loudoun) and U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10th) both sent letters to Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell urging him to appeal the SCC's decision. Among their argument is the question, why build a line in Virginia that will aid power consumers in other states?
"Shouldn't the SCC always be doing what is in the best interest of Virginia?" Wolf wrote in his letter. "It is appalling that this decision allows other states' needs to be put before the Commonwealth's."
If approved in Pennsylvania, Dominion spokeswoman LeHa Anderson said the line will be built and operational by 2011.
Contact the reporter at jjacks@timespapers.com
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