Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 20, 1993 TAG: 9310200071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jeff Janosko, chairman of Arcs Inc., the two-state coalition fighting the line, said the money will be used primarily to pay for grass-roots organizers.
The grant was awarded by the Campaign for Human Development of the national Catholic Church, despite an attempt by some Catholic Apco employees to dissuade church representatives from giving money to the opposition group.
"Our concern was where the money was going," said Ed Bradley, a 25-year employee. "We are not disappointed in our bishop; we are disappointed in the result."
The grants, from an annual collection from Catholics nationwide, are given to grass-roots groups to aid poor communities and increase citizens' roles in the public process, said Michael Stone, director for the program for the Richmond diocese.
"Low-income rural communities have very little access in general to decisions on large issues," he said.
"Basically, the church has no position on the power line one way or another," Stone said.
Arcs members announced the grant - the second they have received from the Catholic group - at a news conference in Cloverdale, where an Apco substation loomed in the background. The company wants to build a 765,000-volt line from Oceana, W.Va., to hook into the Cloverdale facility.
Apco says that with energy demand on the rise, the 115-mile line is essential to maintaining reliable power for its customers in both states into the next century. If the line isn't built by 1998, the company says, the region may suffer increased brownouts and blackouts.
But opponents say the line is environmentally and economically unsound and poses a health threat. They claim that Apco plans to use the line to ship energy derived from Western coal to markets in the East, using the vast transmission network of its Ohio-based parent company, American Electric Power.
The grant will help opponents in their fight to stop Apco from "stringing this enormous extension cord over us, cutting off Appalachian coal miners, violating our environment, choking us with more acid rain . . .," said Robert Zacher, a West Virginia resident and director of Arcs.
A hearing examiner with Virginia's State Corporation Commission, which must approve the line, is expected to make a recommendation after Jan. 1.
For lack of environmental information, the parallel ruling body in West Virginia has twice rejected Apco's application. Apco spokesman Don Johnson said the company does not know when the application will be resubmitted in that state.
Arcs, a coalition of groups in Roanoke, Giles and Craig counties and seven West Virginia counties, will spend much of the grant money organizing citizens in West Virginia, where opponents are focusing their fight, Janosko said.
The grant will pay for the director's salary of $14,000, two organizers at $4,000 each, and a part-time assistant, he said. It will also be used to hold citizen workshops.
Last year, after Arcs received its first church grant of $30,000, Bradley and three other Apco employees met with Bishop Walter Sullivan.
"We went as Catholics," Bradley said, but told the bishop they were Apco employees as well. The four also met this spring with church representatives who were reviewing the opponents' application to renew the grant.
They said they understand the grants act as seed money for programs and efforts to lift people out of poverty and to better their situations.
"Quite honestly, we don't see how giving money to Arcs will achieve that," George Laurey said. The four employees believe that the two state commissions give "ample representation" to all citizens and that the grant money would be better spent on education, health and housing programs.
Stone said that decision is made by a national committee in Washington, D.C. Whether the line is built or not, he said, the grant money will have helped empower rural communities in Appalachia.
Janosko said the church audits grant recipients quarterly to make sure the money is spent as intended, and not on lawyers and consultants.
"We committed the sin of not spending all the money last year," he said, hence the group got less money this time around. Arcs can apply for the grant only one more time.
Janosko said the Roanoke County groups have raised about $100,000 - aside from the church grants - to fight the line. The money has gone toward fees for a Richmond lawyer, an engineering consultant and expert witnesses.
Arcs also recently received $4,000 from Citizen's Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste, which also promotes grass-roots organization.
Apco's major expenses for the line will total about $5 million, Johnson estimated. That includes a university study of potential routes, an environmental impact statement being prepared by the Jefferson National Forest and proceedings before the State Corporation Commission, he said.
by CNB