SCC Oks

By Don Del Rosso

The State Corporation Commission (SCC) on Tuesday approved construction of a 500,000-volt transmission line through the Piedmont.

Dominion Virginia Power and Trains-Allegheny Interstate Co. began planning for the controversial tri-state line in 2006.

Dominion cheered the SCC ruling.

"As we said from the beginning of this process more than two and a half years ago, this transmission line is the best and only answer to keep the lights on in an important section of the country and our state beginning in the summer of 2011," transmission vice president John Smatlak said.

The decision "affirms the soundness of our planning that has always placed our customers' needs for reliable electricity at the forefront," Smatlak said.

Despite vigorous opposition from the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), community groups and hundreds of landowners, Dominion insisted it needed the line to avoid "rolling blackouts" in Northern Virginia.

Opponents argued conservation, new generation and infrastructure upgrades would preclude the need for the proposed line.

For the full story, read the Oct. 8 Fauquier Times-Democrat