A State Corporation Commission hearing examiner has endorsed Dominion’s plan to build a 65-mile, high-voltage transmission line through Virginia’s northern piedmont.
In a written opinion, Alexander F. Skirpan Jr. wrote that Dominion made a solid case for the line, reports Sandhya Somashekhar with the Washington Post. The company contends that the $243 million project is needed to avoid blackouts in Northern Virginia that could begin as early as 2011.
However, Skirpan recommended that the SCC condition approval of the Virginia segment of the transmission line upon Dominion obtaining approval in the two other states it would run through: West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Opponents of the transmission line, which would string power cables atop towers ranging in height from 75 feet to 165 feet, contend that the true purpose of the line is to wheel electricity from Midwest power plants to New Jersey and New York, by way of the Washington area. The Piedmont Environmental Council, which has spent more than $3 million on lawyers and experts to rebut Dominion’s case, also argues that aggressive conservation programs could reduce Virginia energy use by 10 percent within the next five years.