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By Kevin Allen
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The power line war going on in Fauquier, Frederick, Loudoun, Prince William and Warren counties may awaken memories among some Rappahannock County environmentalists who waged similar battles against utility companies in the 1970s.
A proposal in 1970 by the Potomac Edison Power Company, Pepco for short, to build a 138,000-volt electric transmission corridor through Rappahannock spawned the county’s oldest environmental organization, the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection.
A current proposal by Allegheny Power, Dominion Virginia Power and PJM Interconnection to build a 500,000-volt transmission corridor through historically and environmentally significant areas of the Piedmont is a reminder of that tumultuous time in Rappahannock.
In the 36 years of its existence, RLEP has grown into a multi-issue organization, but it all began in response to - and victory over - the Pepco proposal.
Pepco’s planned corridor was slated to stretch 30 miles from Riverton in Warren County to Boston in Culpeper County, with 22 miles of the line running through the center of Rappahannock adjacent to Shenandoah National Park.
Phil Irwin, of Flint Hill, is the founder of RLEP. Had the power line been built, it would have run between Irwin’s 115-acre property and the national park. So when Irwin found out about the plan in late 1970, he called a meeting for those opposed to the proposal.
RLEP was bom at that meeting at the Rappahannock County Courthouse in December 1970. Irwin said he was
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