REGARDING THE DOMINION VIRGINIA POWER GAINESVILLE-HAYMARKET TRANSMISSION LINE AND SUBSTATION, STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION APPLICATION PUE-2015-00107
WHEREAS, Dominion Virginia Power has proposed an overhead route for a new 230 kilovolt(kV) double circuit transmission line, extending approximately six miles from Gainesville to a new substation west of the Town of Haymarket (“the I-66 Overhead Route”); and
WHEREAS, Dominion Virginia Power has proposed the Overhead Route due to allegedly anticipated increases in energy demand, but satisfactory evidence of such increased demand has not been made publicly available; and
WHEREAS, Dominion Virginia Power has applied to the State Corporation Commission for approval of the I-66 Overhead Route after rejecting alternatives that included the I-66 Overhead/Underground “Hybrid” Alternative Route; and
WHEREAS, the I-66 Overhead Route will put the transmission lines on pylons 110 to 120 high along Interstate Route 66 through the Town of Haymarket and proceeding to a point north of the Town, impacting the viewshed of thousands of residents who bought their properties with no reason to believe that a high voltage power line would be constructed to mar their view; and
WHEREAS, Novant Health Haymarket Medical Center has a helipad immediately adjacent to Interstate Route 66 on the far side from the proposed Overhead Route, making the location of 110 to 120 foot pylons there inconsistent with public health, safety, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, the I-66 Overhead Route will adversely impact residents and businesses along the entire route, but especially in the Town of Haymarket, By damaging the viewshed and impacting the historic district of Haymarket, which already suffers from “double stacking” of power lines along Washington Street; and
WHEREAS, the I-66 Overhead Route will have an adverse environmental and economic impact on the corridor; and
WHEREAS, the Town of Haymarket has reviewed and considered all of the proposed routes and has previously expreseed its opposition to entirely overhead routes, most recently on July 14, 2015;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Town of Haymarket requests of the State Corporation Commission that it:
1. Hold the public hearing on Dominion Power’s application PUE-2015-00107 at a location in or near Haymarket that will have enough capacity to accommodate the large number of citizens who wish to attend and be heard, and that it hold that public hearing after the General Assembly adjourns sine die in March, 2016;
2. Engage an independent consultant with expertise in electric utility system master planning to render an independent opinion as to the need for the proposed transmission line and substation project; and
3. Deny all Dominion Virginia Power’s Overhead Routes, including their preferred I-66 Overhead Route as proposed in the November 6, 2015 filing with the State Corporation Commission, and, if the independent consultant finds that there is a need for additional transmission lines, instead authorize the I-66 Overhead/Underground Hybrid Alternative Route which uses the existing right-of-way along the northern boundary of Interstate Route 66; and
4. Require Dominion Virginia Power to mitigate the economic and environmental impacts of any transmission lines that may be necessary in the Haymarket area, including through the use of pylons with a natural color that blends with adjacent natural colors, through the use of materials and techniques that permit the use of shorter pylons, and through undergrounding of transmission lines in the vicinity of helipad and wherever else it is reasonable to do so.
Done this 7th day of December 2015.
Voting
Aye: Morris, Edwards, Woods, Caudle, Pasanello, Aitken
Voting Nay: 0
Abstaining: 0
Absent: 0