Power

Power

From Page A1

earlier route selection was a straw man, a ruse, a smokescreen to hide Dominion’s real route choice until the General Assembly closed for the remainder of the year. ' “I am delighted to devote a few Dominion and Alleghany dollars to the fight,” Gilbert concluded.

“This change of course came so abruptly,” Obenshain said Tuesday. “It literally came in the closing days of the session. There was no time to chart a new legislative course.”

Jim Norvelle, Dominion’s director of media relations, said that was not the power company’s intention. Norvelle said Dominion introduced the Rappahannock route in response to a Feb. 7 report from PJM Interconnection that stated that a new route along the existing corridor would provide the addi’ tional electricity needed in ' Northern Virginia through 2013. The original Interstate 66 route through northern Fauquier County would meet those demands through 2014.

Those “electrically comparable” findings led Dominion officials to look at charting a new corridor next to the existing right of way, Norvelle said.

“We’ve said from the beginning that if we can find a route for a transmission line that goes along existing corridors ... then that would be a preferable route,” Norvelle said. Call for alternatives

In their letter to Farrell, Gilbert and Obenshain go on to say they are concerned about the effect the new line will have on property owners and the environment and mention Rappahannock’s tradition of preserving the county’s natural resources.

“Accordingly, it is our sincere hope that before finalizing plans for the construction of this transmission line, Dominion will continue to evaluate its "alternatives,” which include burying the line and replacing the wires on existing towers with higher-voltage cables, as well as reconsider the need for the new corridor, the letter says.

“There will be alternatives that will be looked at intensely” by Dominion executives and the State Corporation Commis