By Reynolds Hutchins
reynolds.hutchins@insidebiz.com
Opponents and proponents of a new power line that will span the James River descended on Richmond earlier this month where the two sides argued their cases before the Virginia Supreme Court.
Dominion Virginia Power, which originally planned to begin construction on the 500-kilovolt transmission line between Surry and James City County early this year, has said there is a "critical need" for the structure.
But groups, from the James City County local government to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, disagree.
At 300 feet high, the transmission line's towers, the groups argued before the high court, will not only mar the aesthetic vistas of the waterway but the historic fabric of the landscape and Virginia's tourism industry.
"We're talking four towers as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Each one," attorney Andrew McRoberts said last week.
McRoberts represented James City County, Save the James Alliance and the James River Association before the Supreme Court earlier this month.
"This is a body of water that is largely the same as it was when John Smith arrived," McRoberts said last week. "This is a river the state assembly has declared a state historic river. Now there's going to be lit-up power lines right in the middle of it."
McRoberts said he didn't take issue with Dominion's claims there is a critical need for the line.
With the upcoming shutdown of two of Dominion's coal-fired power stations in Yorktown because of more stringent federal regulations, the company faces "severe reliability violations," State Corporation Commission attorney John Dudley told the high court.
Those risks include rolling blackouts through Hampton Roads into Richmond, Northern Virginia and North Carolina, said Dominion spokeswoman Bonita Harris.
Dominion is one of the primary service providers, if not the only provider of service, in those areas.
The impact would be "significant," she said.
Much of the legal proceedings earlier this month didn't center on whether the 8-mile long transmission line is needed. The arguments largely hinged on whether a switching station in James City is part of the line.
Under SCC guidelines, the state agency has authority to guide the location of transmission lines.
Other "electrical utility facilities," such as switching stations, are delegated to local zoning powers.
When it appeared early on that James City would deny Dominion's permit for the station at Skiffes Creek, Dominion requested the SCC find the station "integral" to the transmission line.
In March of last year, the project met full approval.
According to McRoberts, it's the first time out of 50 cases that the power company has bypassed city or county zoning processes.
There's a reason the SCC, a state body, has authority over a transmission line, McRoberts said.
"There's a need for statewide regulation because it goes through several zoning authorities," he said.
A switching station does not.
"And they should not have found that the Skiffes Creek station is a transmission line, which pre-empts local government zoning authority," McRoberts said.
But, the SCC's Dudley argued before the high court that Dominion never asserted the switching station was the same as the line, only that it was integral to the line.
"The proposed Skiffes Creek transmission projects are required," Dominion's online report on the project reads. "Generation plants provide necessary power and transmission lines deliver the power where needed."
According to Dominion, the entire project - transmission line, towers, switching station - was thoroughly vetted by the company, experts and the SCC.
Preservationists attending the proceedings in Richmond, however, contend the power company did not adequately investigate alternative routes.
Preservationists with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and other groups have argued Dominion could bury the transmission line under the river.
It's a solution McRoberts said would "reasonably mitigate this issue."
Dominion, however, has argued that an underground line is not feasible and would raise the cost of construction from an estimated $160 million to anywhere from $330 million to $1 billion - a portion of which would be fronted by ratepayers.
"It's technically not feasible to do a line with that much power under that much water," Dominion's Harris said.
Only a few places around the world have ever attempted to bury a 500-kilovolt transmission line, she said.
The Hoover Dam is the only location in America with such a line.
"And even that one is currently being replaced with overhead lines because of reliability concerns," Harris said.
McRoberts argued last week that Dominion could opt to build a lower voltage line, as low as 230 kilovolts, which could be buried underground.
The company, he said, chose the 500-kilovolt line so there would be no other choice but to build the cheaper over-water option.
Dominion disagreed.
Both sides expect the court to have a decision by the end of February.