Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 28, 1993 TAG: 9308280219
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The company condemned its opponents for using delaying tactics to stall the project, and then claiming Apco's information is outdated.
In its filing, Apco also said the opponents are "merely recycling arguments" that already have been dismissed by the commission.
Three weeks ago, opponent groups in Craig, Roanoke and Giles counties asked the state to drop consideration of Apco's proposal to build part of 765,000-volt power line through those counties. The proposed line would run about 115 miles from Oceana, W.Va., to Cloverdale.
The opponents claimed the information in Apco's 1991 application was outdated and therefore inaccurate. They also said it was nonsense for Virginia to be reviewing a power line that, at least temporarily, is dangling at the West Virginia state line.
Acpo does not have an application filed in West Virginia. Officials there twice have rejected Apco's application for that portion of the line, demanding more information on the environmental impact.
The Virginia opponents are part of a larger, bi-state organization that is fighting the line. Members say the line is not needed and would pose dangers to human health and the environment.
Apco maintains the line must be built by 1998 to avoid potential brownouts and to provide full service to its customers into the next century.
The company's filing on Friday is peppered with rhetorical zingers, apparently aimed at deflating the groups' credibility. Apco blasts the groups' arguments as preposterous, pointless and disingenuous.
According to Apco's filing, the Virginia hearing examiner in charge of the case twice has dismissed that argument, and quotes from a ruling in November:
"Applicant should not be denied consideration of its application simply because there is a risk of disapproval [in West Virginia]."
William Bilenky, a lawyer for the opponents, denied that the Aug. 5 motion to dismiss was simply a delaying tactic. But he said he is hoping the hearing examiner eventually will change his mind.
"If I have to file it 10 more times, yeah, I'll file it 10 more times," he said.
"Citizens are entitled to due process, they are entitled to the opportunity to voice their opposition," he said. He charged that Apco was trying to ram the application through Virginia to gain leverage in West Virginia, where the company faces a tougher fight.
Ken Schrad, spokesman for the State Corporation Commission, said the examiner is not under a deadline to rule on the opponents' motion.
At the opponents' request, the commission has scheduled a second public hearing on Apco's application for Sept. 14 in Richmond to hear testimony on electromagnetic fields, geological impacts and other issues.
by CNB