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Power Wars: Dominion Proposes Powerline through Prince William
Dominion Power is proposing to construct a new powerline from West
Virginia to a NOVEC Substation located in southern Loudoun County,
near the Prince William County border. This powerline includes 125 - 150 foot towers running for approximately 40 miles through a 150
foot-wide easement along the entire corridor.
As part of this proposal, Dominion is requesting approval for the designation of a National
Interest Electric Transmission Corridor, which would provide more authority to the
Federal government than Kelo v. New London provided to the states.
Dominion Power is studying potential corridors for this new powerline. In Prince William County, the current proposal travels east along the the I-66 corridor and swings north at Route 15 to reach the NOVEC substation at the Prince William/Loudoun border.
This route would have a significant and negative impact on Prince William's already paltry supply of conservation lands, including the Bull Run Mountain Natural Area and the Silver Lake property that Toll Brothers recently donated to the county as a public natural area. The proposal would also affect a number of existing communities, including Dominion Valley, Thunder Oak, and other neighborhoods along the Route 15 corridor from Haymarket to the Loudoun border.
Many questions about this powerline proposal remain unanswered, including the need for additional power service and the potential of conservation solutions to offset additional power requirements. Regardless, Dominion Power is moving forward in order to meet their timeline for activitating this powerline within five years.
QUESTIONS? Contact us at elena@pwconserve.org or 703.491.8406.
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NEWS
New plan for power line tracks Interstate 66
Shannon Sollinger, Gainesville Times; November 29 2006
Dominion has now finalized maps of specific routes that are being considered for the power line and, according to the latest revised study area, it appears the most likely path tracks Interstate 66 from Allegheny Power's Meadowbrook substation south of Winchester to Dominion's substation east of U.S. 15 in Aldie. For Prince William County residents, the bottom line is the revised study area virtually assures the line will have to pass through the western part of the county before reaching its Loudoun destination. The Prince William area now includes much of the Gainesville District, as well as the northwest portion of Brentsville District, south of Interstate 66.
Proposed Power Line Routes Traverse Sensitive Areas
ABC News; November 28 2006
Dominion Virginia Power has revealed proposed routes for a high-voltage power line that would cut through Civil War sites and some of Virginia 's unspoiled natural land. The company proposed a handful of routes on Monday that mostly follow the Interstate 66 corridor and cut through parts of Prince William, Loudoun and Fauquier counties.
Power Line Proposal Looms Over Communities; Opponents Out in Force At Dominion Meeting
Sandhya Somashekhar, Washington Post; November 30, 2006
Hundreds of environmentalists, property owners and slow-growth activists piled into the Middleburg Community Center on Tuesday evening to learn more about a high-voltage power line planned for parts of Loudoun, Fauquier and Prince William counties, a plan that has been met with vehement opposition in growth-resistant northwestern Virginia.
Allegheny Power planning new transmission line
Associated Press
Allegheny Power has begun preliminary work on planning a 240-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line it proposed last February. ... The project, the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line, would extend from southwestern Pennsylvania to existing substations in Mount Storm, W.Va., and Meadow Brook, Va., along with an interconnection with Dominion Virginia Power and continuing east to Dominion's Loudoun Substation.
McDonnell wants state consulted in power line project
WAVY TV; November 20 2006
Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell is the latest Virginia official to weigh in on a plan by power companies to build a high-voltage power line in northwest Virginia . McDonnell wrote a letter to U-S Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman about a study by the Energy Department in August that named portions of Virginia as part of a critical congestion area. That designation would allow for the condemnation of land to create corridors where power lines can be built. McDonnell says the department is moving ahead without consulting Virginia . He's concerned that P-J-M Interconnections the company that manages the mid-Atlantic power grid could break local and state conservation easements.
Dominion to Sell Off Production Assets; Oil, Gas Reserves Valued at $15 Billion
Steven Mufson , Washington Post; November 2, 2006
Dominion Resources Inc., the nation's second largest utility owner, said yesterday that it would put most of its oil and natural gas production assets up for sale, and industry analysts said they could fetch more than $15 billion. … The restructuring would leave behind a firm more focused on its electric utility in Virginia, a natural gas distribution company in Ohio and electric power plants in New England , Wisconsin and other parts of the country. Dominion executives said they hoped that the divestiture would boost the stock price for shareholders who are seeking a less volatile, more stable business and source of dividends. |
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