The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation will not take a position in the ongoing case between James City County and Dominion Virginia Power on the proposed overhead power line across the James River, but not because of a directive from the governor’s office to refrain from weighing in on the matter.
Last week during the county Board of Supervisors meeting, Chairman John McGlennon (Roberts) referred to a letter he wrote the governor’s office in December. In it, McGlennon asked if the governor’s office had stepped in to advise the foundation not to take a public stance on the case before the State Corporation Commission.
Numerous groups, both civic and governmental, have joined James City County’s opposition to the proposed over-the-James power line, saying it destroys the historic viewshed.
The letter said the county had been informed of the governor’s office involvement. County Administrator Robert Middaugh said Phillip Emerson, executive director of JYF, had been directed by the governor’s office to keep the foundation from offering an opinion.
But on Monday, Emerson, along with Chairman H. Benson Dendy III of the JYF Board of Trustees, made a statement to WYDaily.com that the governor’s office never stepped in on the matter.
“Any position of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation must be approved by the Board of Trustees. We have not talked with the Governor’s Office about this matter,” the statement said. “As with any significant issue, we briefed the Secretary of Education’s office on the issue. The chairman of the board last fall [Dendy] said he did not think it was an issue on which the the Board of Trustees would want to take action, because traditionally the board has not taken a position on any issue before another state body.”
Jeff Caldwell, a spokesperson for Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) also said his office neither received nor sent any correspondence – including phone calls or in-person meetings – discouraging the foundation from giving its opinion on the power line proposed to run from Surry to Skiffes Creek.
“The governor’s office has not taken a position on this issue, but have left it to the discretion of the [JYF Board of Trustees] whether they wish to get involved,” Caldwell wrote in an email.
The Board of Trustees is made up of several elected officials, as well as non-elected officials. McDonnell is a member of the board, as is Paul Koonce, president and CEO of Dominion Virginia Power.
Middaugh maintains Emerson informed him verbally that the governor’s office was keeping JYF from offering the county its support. Middaugh said when he first contacted Emerson last fall, Emerson said he would check to see if JYF could help and that he would call Middaugh back. Middaugh waited a few weeks before contacting Emerson again for a response. At that time, Middaugh said, Emerson told him the foundation could not help because the governor’s office had either asked or directed them not to take a position.
Middaugh was unsure how Emerson had been instructed, whether it was by phone, letter or in person.
In a phone interview Monday, Dendy said he cannot recall an instance in his 29 years on the board where the foundation has taken a position in a case involving a state agency.
Though Dendy said he does not know whether Emerson told Middaugh the governor’s office had issued instructions, he added “As chairman of the board, I was never told that the governor’s office said that we couldn’t take a position.”
McGlennon sent his letter to the governor’s office Dec. 10 based on Middaugh’s recollection of his conversations with Emerson.
“As an avowed supporter of both the Commonwealth’s history and our thriving tourism business, we can only believe that this direction was not from you and does not have your support. The Jamestown Yorktown Foundation is the only agency in the Historic Triangle with a specific mission and purpose to preserve and promote the Commonwealth’s historic past that has not taken a position on the … transmission line,” McGlennon wrote.
He asked the governor to immediately direct staff to correct the previous instruction given to JYF.
In the letter, McGlennon explains Colonial Williamsburg, the College of William and Mary, Preservation Virginia, the National Park Service, the city of Williamsburg, York County, the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance, BASF Corporation, the James River Association, Scenic Virginia and several state agencies including the Department of Historic Resources, the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Conservation and Recreation “have expressed direct support for the county’s opposition.”
The letter was sent via email in December last year to the other members of the Board of Supervisors; Margaret Fowler, a member of the Save the James Alliance’s Board of Trustees; state Sen. Tommy Norment (R-3rd); Emerson and one of the governor’s aides. A copy was also sent via regular mail to the governor.
McGlennon confirmed last week he received no response to his letter. A JYF spokesperson said Emerson did not receive a copy.
Middaugh said Monday another copy of the letter was being sent to the governor’s office with a cover sheet explaining the letter had been sent previously.
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