ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997 TAG: 9702130070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
THE SCC AGREED to consider the power-line opponents' request that the SCC rewrite the rules for applications.
Opponents of American Electric Power Co.'s proposed high-voltage power line have hit a short circuit - their request that Virginia's State Corporation Commission dismiss the company's application was denied.
The SCC ruled Monday that it was denying the motion from power-line opponents in Giles, Craig and Roanoke counties. The commission, however, agreed to give further consideration to opponents' request that the SCC rewrite the rules for power-line applications in light of the changing structure and introduction of competition into the power industry.
AEP has had an application pending before the SCC for five years to build a 756,000-volt power line from Wyoming County, W.Va., to an AEP station at Cloverdale in Botetourt County.
AEP is developing a new route for the line after the original 115-mile path, which crossed the New River, Appalachian Trail and Jefferson National Forest, was ruled out last June in a preliminary environmental study by the U.S. Forest Service. The SCC already has said, however, that AEP probably needs the line to serve its customers in southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia.
Opponents argued in a motion filed Dec. 27 that AEP's application should be dismissed because the Forest Service's position makes all of AEP's proposed routes unacceptable. AEP responded that it was working with federal agencies to correct flaws in the Forest Service's environmental study and was developing a new route for the line.
The SCC said it was denying the opponents' motion because it could find no compelling reason in their arguments to dismiss AEP's application.
The commission also said that although it might agree that the rules for line applications should be rewritten, as the opponents suggested, it was not convinced that the issue justified dismissing AEP's application.
The commission said it had some of the same concerns as those raised by opponents as far as changes within the power industry. It has been considering those issues and will continue to do so, the commission said.
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