In Nod to Foes, Dominion to Revisit Route Options

Dominion Virginia Power announced yesterday that opposition to a high-voltage overhead power line through Northern Virginia has caused the company to reconsider several previously discarded alternatives.

Company officials said they will take another look at three options: burying the 40 miles of cable rather than installing it atop 125-foot steel towers; running it alongside existing transmission lines instead of carving a route through the region; and stringing it along Interstate 66 instead of through private property in Fauquier, Prince William and Loudoun counties.

In recent months, company officials have repeatedly ruled out those options, saying that they had studied them thoroughly before rejecting them. But community concern has caused the company to take a closer look, said Le-Ha Anderson, a Dominion spokeswoman.

"Really, this is just to respond to requests by the public and elected officials to look at alternatives that are commonly voiced," she said. "We're at the very, very early stages of researching these alternatives further."

Company officials have said that demand for electricity in Northern Virginia is expected to grow by more than 8 percent in the next five years and that without the line the region could experience rolling blackouts.

But many residents and state lawmakers are not convinced, and Dominion has launched a public relations offensive to try to sway opinion. In recent newspaper ads, the company has warned, "Without a new transmission line it will be lights out in Northern Virginia."

Until now, the primary routes under consideration slice through some of the most fiercely guarded and picturesque land in the state, including Civil War sites and acres of farms and forest in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The routes also cut through densely populated neighborhoods in western Prince William.

Well-funded community groups and politicians have put the company under tremendous pressure to drop the project. Opponents gathered in Richmond last week to promote legislation that would limit Dominion's ability to run the line through the countryside, and they plan another rally tomorrow.

One measure would prevent the line from being constructed within 500 feet of a school or home; another would require the utility to compensate owners of property within 2,000 feet of the line for lost views as well as lost property. Several bills encourage burying the transmission line.

"You're going to destroy million-dollar homes and destroy environmentally sensitive areas," said Del. Joe T. May (R-Loudoun), who has proposed several bills addressing the issue. "That's not appropriate."

Dominion's announcement was met with skepticism by many opponents, who noted that the company has yet to complete its application to the State Corporation Commission and could still elect to put up towers through open country and neighborhoods.

"Enron said, 'Trust us,' too," said Robert W. Lazaro Jr., a spokesman for the slow-growth Piedmont Environmental Council, which has been leading the charge against the line. "The proof is in the pudding."

Dominion officials said the alternatives are not as good as its previously identified paths.

Burying the cables, officials said, would increase the $150 million price tag to $1.7 billion and make maintenance more difficult. Building it along 68 miles of existing line that winds through Fauquier, Prince William and Loudoun would solve the problem only through 2013, the company said.

Under the I-66 option, the line could be installed along the highway from Front Royal to western Prince William with the permission of the Virginia Department of Transportation, with which Dominion is negotiating.

But company officials have said that such a route might come too close to homes and might threaten protected land. Opponents have also objected to the I-66 option, saying that it could affect tourism and destroy views.