Suspicions about Dominion Virginia Power's motives have come to the forefront in the ongoing struggle to find an acceptable route for the power company's western transmission line.
"It appears that this line is a redundant line and it will be carrying more power than is needed today or in the foreseeable future," said Alan Sylvester before Dominion representatives made a presentation for the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 1.
An engineer himself, Sylvester questioned why Dominion hadn't provided cost estimates for the alternative routes presented.
When she spoke with residents at recent public workshops hosted by Dominion, Jane Sarver said she didn't encounter a single person who didn't support an underground line — an alternative that Dominion has refused to consider for cost purposes.
"I also learned that Loudoun citizens don't trust Dominion," Sarver said. She, like others, wondered if Dominion's proposal to run a 230 kilovolt line to Hamilton — providing, she said, 35 times the electricity needed by the region until 2014 — was the result of financial motivation, not actual electrical needs in the county. Could Dominion be planning to shop the extra power to other states that don't have regulated rates?
"It's obvious to me ... they want to sell big chunks of the power to someone else," Dave Sarver said.
OVER 250 PEOPLE attended Dominion's most recent power line workshops, held at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg on Oct. 25 and 26. The transmission line has sparked controversy since it was first proposed early this year; Dominion planned to run the 11-mile line along the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, where the company owned an easement, before activists shouted down the proposal.
Now, the company must complete a route elsewhere before its set deadline of May 2007 — when, it says, power to western Loudoun will be unreliable in bad weather.
Despite promises by Dominion representatives to work closely with the county and the public, only half of an Oct. 19 resolution by the Board of Supervisors is being addressed by the company at present. The supervisors unanimously directed Dominion to submit the Route 7 corridor as the primary route for an underground line.
Dominion has been in talks with the Virginia Department of Transportation regarding obtaining right of way — but the underground option has been shelved, as "neither party is interested," said John Bailey, siting and permitting coordinator for Dominion.
That story clashes with what Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) had learned in conversations with Del. Joe May (R-33), and, indeed, what May had told the Connection when Dominion announced its decision to seek a route off the W&OD Trail in September.
"[VDOT is] very protective of their right of way, but if you're going to bury it, that turns out to be the most attractive option," May, a former electrical engineer, said at the time, adding that he was "encouraged" by his talks with Virginia Secretary of Transportation Whit Clement.
"I think there is some confusion here," Burton said.
THERE'S ALSO some confusion about Dominion's reasoning for ruling out underground lines — namely, the cost. Dominion has estimated that an 11-mile underground line on the W&OD Trail would cost $100 million. It has not provided estimates for underground lines on other routes.
Board of Supervisors chairman Scott York (I-at large), however, has determined that Dominion's estimate could be as much as 40 percent over the actual price for an underground line. The company has estimated a cost of $40 million for an overhead line on Routes 7 and 15 bypass using VDOT right of way.
What it comes down to is information — the lack of it.
"We need to have a discussion and an intelligent look at what it really, truly costs underground," York said.
When confronted by questions from the supervisors, Bailey insisted that the extra power from the line would not be shopped around to other states. He added, more than once, that all necessary information would be on the company's final application to the State Corporation Commission early next year. This last tidbit was the proverbial last straw for Supervisor Bruce Tulloch (R-Potomac).
"Before you put your application in, you should put forth all the information," Tulloch said. "I don't even understand why you're here, if you're going to tell us rather than work with us."
He stated the supervisors' position to applause in the crowd: "We want you to bury your lines on a VDOT roadway."