Download the Spring 2008 Fauquier County Clarion (4.0MB pdf)

Do you remember how you first heard about the threat of a new transmission line through Fauquier? Maybe a neighbor urged you to go to a meeting that PEC was leading in a nearby school auditorium or town hall. Maybe you read about it in the local paper. Maybe someone forwarded you a PEC e-mail. Now, the grassroots uprising that began here has grown into the most thoroughly researched and aggressively contested transmission line case in Virginia's history, and the U.S. Congress is debating its national and global implications.

As the case before Virginia's State Corporation Commission (SCC) got started, hundreds of citizens, many of them from Fauquier, gave substantive testimony opposing the line for a wide variety of good reasons. Unproven need for the line. Property values. Scenic views. Property rights. Air pollution. Global warming.

In the next phase of the case, which ended last month, PEC, Fauquier County and other official respondents waged legal battle in Richmond. While Dominion and Allegheny Power have insisted that the proposed high voltage line with 15-story metal towers is the only possible way to keep the lights on, the evidence presented by PEC's team of nine expert witnesses, and others, demonstrates that:

1) The line is not necessary. The case for the line is based on faulty assumptions-requiring faith that the utilities' models are accurate and unbiased, that increased conservation and efficiency will not affect future demand, and that business-as-usual must continue, even as the world around us changes.
2) The line would do serious public harm. The line would cost over a billion dollars to construct; increase the East Coast's dependence on distant (and largely coal-fired) generation; discourage clean sources of generation; require clear-cutting of forests and herbicide-use along its rights-of-way; ruin scenic views from parks, roads, rivers and historic sites; and lower property values along the entire 240-mile long route.
3) Better alternatives can meet people's needs for energy. Witnesses from various groups showed that a combination of initiatives to reduce energy demand, clean generation located closer to demand, and realistic planning will allow essential services to remain cost-effective and reliable.

So what happens next? PEC and other respondents are working on our legal briefs, which are due in early May. A decision from the SCC is expected in the summer or fall. We are also waiting on decisions from West Virginia and Pennsylvania, since this 240-mile line crosses three states, and a rejection from any one would deal a serious blow.

Then, we still have work to do at the federal level, because the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has designated Fauquier, along with 223 counties across ten states, as vast National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC) where the federal government could wield unprecedented control over transmission line siting. Last year, hundreds of citizens testified against NIETC designation, although DOE turned a deaf ear. PEC has since filed a lawsuit to curb abuses of NIETC legislation-a suit that has gained the formal support of fifteen U.S. states. We've also helped bring together a coalition of more than twenty-five organizations and eight states voicing objections to the designation. Congress is paying attention, and the Senate is likely to hold an oversight hearing on NIETC designations this spring.

Larger trends in Washington are also going our way. As Congress works toward a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it doesn't make sense to encourage transmission infrastructure tied to the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the nation, which is exactly the direction that NIETC designation is headed.

The uprising that began as citizens gathered in places like Marshall, Bealeton, Warrenton, Remington and The Plains is definitely a David and Goliath struggle-but the giants are staggering. To prevail, we still need this community's full support. Here are some things you can do (all at our website, www.pecva.org):

1) Sign up for PEC's Transmission Line Action Alerts and become part of our effective 5,000-member network of activists.
2) Support PEC. We've added staff and hired experts to take on this fight on behalf of the community and we need your help.