James City County would purchase land in Surry County to avoid running a new overhead power line across the James River, an attorney said before the Virginia State Corporation Commission Tuesday.
Attorneys and witnesses from Dominion Virginia Power, James City County, Charles City County and other concerned groups and citizens convened before the SCC on Tuesday morning to argue reasons for and against the proposed 500kV overhead power line from the existing Surry Power Station, across the James River to a proposed Skiffes Creek Switching Station.
Dominion Virginia Power is proposing a new 230 kV line to be constructed from Skiffes Creek to Whealton in Hampton, as well as splitting two existing 230kV lines into four lines to run through the station at Skiffes Creek. Four 115 kV lines would run through the station, along with the other five lines, to provide power to the north Hampton Roads area.
In an effort to prevent running the 500kV line over the river, attorney Andrew McRoberts of Sands Anderson said James City County would be willing to purchase land for the switching station somewhere else. Dominion owns 51 acres at Skiffes Creek in the proposed location of the switching station. McRoberts, retained by James City County to argue its case, said the county would purchase that land from Dominion and 51 acres for a different station in Surry or another location.
“James City County is willing to put our money where our mouth is,” McRoberts said.
Dominion’s attorney, Stephen Watts II, partner at McGuireWoods, said the purpose of the project is to move 500kV power from Surry to Whealton. South Hampton Roads is also currently facing generation issues, so it cannot supply power to north Hampton Roads without significant stress.
“Moreover, creating a new 230kV connection, or expanding an existing one, to permit more power to flow from south Hampton Roads to north Hampton Roads would only make a bad situation worse, by increasing the load to be served by the system in south Hampton Roads,” Watts said.
Dominion returned to the drawing board in January, following a request from SCC staff to explore more alternate routes and types of lines for the project. A total of nine options were reviewed and Dominion maintains the best route option is Surry-Skiffes Creek. Several of the lines did not solve North Atlantic Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reliability issues.
The planned retirement of generation units at Yorktown and Chesapeake in 2015 – because of regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency regarding water, and air and solid waste emissions from burning coal – accelerated the need for increased transmission capacity in the area. Without a capacity increase, Dominion would likely be in violation of NERC regulations once the units are retired.
In addition, 27 power line load capacities have been exceeded in the north Hampton Roads area. Dominion aims for 94 percent capacity per line. The identified problem lines exceed 100 percent capacity, and even 200 percent capacity in some cases.
McRoberts, the attorney representing James City County, said in his opening statement Dominion’s driving factor in proposing the power line was trying to avoid fines for NERC violations.
“Lack of planning on your part doesn’t constitute a problem on mine,” McRoberts said.
Effects on the historical value and viewshed were a focus of McRoberts’ opening remarks. He explained tourists may not come back to the area if they associate views of the power line with their visit. Even if a small percentage of tourists don’t return to the area, there could be an enormous economic impact.
“By taking away tourist dollars, you’re increasing taxes on every citizen in these localities,” he said.
McRoberts was concerned Dominion officials did not significantly explore the other alternatives, rather that it abandoned an option when a NERC violation was identified.
An alternate overhead variation of the Surry-Skiffes Creek route was developed following a request from BASF Corporation, a chemical company that owns property where the proposed power line would come aground in James City County. The original proposed overhead route bisects the BASF property and the alternative crosses the northeastern part of the BASF property. Dominion doesn’t support the variation because it would be more visible from Carter’s Grove.
From Carter’s Grove, the proposed line would be visible at a distance of 1.7 to 1.9 miles from the main house. The alternate variation would make the line visible from 0.8 to 1.3 miles.
Watts also explained the visibility from several historic points in James City County and the Historic Triangle. He said the line would not be visible from Colonial Williamsburg, historic Yorktown or James Fort. The line would be visible on a short stretch of the Colonial Parkway from about 3.6 to 4.4 miles away. It would also be visible from Black Point on Jamestown Island at a distance of 4.4 to 6.4 miles, from Kingsmill Resort at a distance of 3.2 to 3.7 miles and from River’s Bluff Condominiums at a distance of 2.45 miles.
McRoberts said the line would run through the middle of a part of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, or the John Smith Water Trail, the route the early explorer took to map about 3,000 miles of the Chesapeake Bay.
“We’re talking about an unspoiled stretch of the river that people think of when they think of Virginia,” said Mike Quinan, partner at Christian & Barton, LLP, and attorney for BASF.
James City County officials were projecting the case would take about 10 days to present. County Attorney Leo Rogers said Tuesday it appeared Dominion would not need the five days to present testimony that it originally planned. The length of the case will be determined by the length of testimony and cross-examination from all parties.
The case will resume 10 a.m. today with the remainder of Dominion’s witnesses.
Related Coverage:
- Evidentiary Hearing on Proposed Overhead Powerline to Begin Today
- JCC Supes to Vote on More Funding for Fight Against Dominion
- Officials Unsure Retrofitting Entire Yorktown Power Station is an Option
- SCC Changes Hearing Examiner, Date for Dominion Power Line Case
- GA Subcommittee to Send Letter Opposing Proposed Power Lines
- Chickahominy Chief Says Overland Power Line Would Harm Tribal Grounds
- Is Burying Proposed Power Line Across James an Option?
