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PJM transmits electricity in 13 states and the District of Columbia from Illinois in the west to New Jersey in the east, North Carolina in the south and Michigan in the north. Some 51 million people live in the service area.
Loock said an environmental impact study would force Dominion to justify the need for the new corridor and look at alternatives to a new power line, but the company has not performed such an analysis.
PJM has also filed a request with the Department of Energy to designate the proposed path a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor, which is a federal designation that would allow the corridor to be built even if state and local governments oppose it.
Irwin said another option - albeit costly - is burying the new power lines along I66.
“The question is what is the expense to the environment of what you’re planning to do? I don’t think you can measure the value of a view,” Irwin said. “It’s the creation of a new corridor every time [the power companies] need to increase capacity that we need to stop.
“[The power companies] need to come up with alternatives,” he said. “And we as opponents ot their plans need to come up with aHernatives because you can’t just say, ‘Not in my backyard.’”
“This is hallowed land and it has value,” Irwin said. “The power company needs to look more closely at the possibility of burying the line.”
Email the reporter at kallen@timespapers.com
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