Richmond Times-Dispatch: Another federal lawsuit filed over Dominion’s James River transmission line
Another lawsuit has been filed challenging Dominion Energy’s plans to build a transmission line over the James River near Historic Jamestowne.
The suit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation Virginia. The two groups actively fought the 500-kilovolt transmission line and associated infrastructure — including a switching station near Williamsburg — as it wound its way through the approval process by state and federal agencies and the James City County Board of Supervisors.
The lawsuit seeks to force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prepare an environmental impact statement for the Surry-Skiffe’s Creek project, which it says is required by the National Environmental Policy Act, rather than the less rigorous environmental assessment that the corps already conducted.
“This project is poorly conceived and will severely degrade the history, economy and legacy of the Historic Triangle region,” Stephanie Meeks, National Trust for Historic Preservation president and CEO said in a statement. “It’s also unnecessary. We know, and engineering experts have independently verified, viable alternatives exist that would meet the region’s power needs and protect this jewel of Virginian and American history.”
Last month, the National Parks Conservation Association also filed suit to block the transmission line and require the corps to perform the more detailed environmental impact statement.
Dominion has said no amount of additional study or review will change the fact that the line is the best, most cost-effective way to ensure reliable power on the Peninsula as it closes coal-fired units at the Yorktown Power Station in response to federal pollution standards.
The company has pledged $90 million in mitigation money to make up for the effect the line’s 17 towers will have on a portion of the river that has remained largely unchanged since settlers made Jamestown the first permanent English settlement in 1607.
The opponents, however, say no sum can make up for the lasting intrusion and scar on sight lines that the transmission line will bring.
“We believe that a full and complete examination of alternatives will ensure that these irreplaceable historic, cultural and scenic resources are preserved,” said Elizabeth S. Kostelny, CEO of Preservation Virginia. “Congress designated the James River as America’s Founding River in 2007. We owe it to future generations to ensure all resources are properly evaluated and that all alternatives are exhausted.”
The lawsuit is the latest legal challenge Dominion faces on the Peninsula. The Sierra Club filed a motion last month asking the U.S. Department of Energy to reconsider its order granting Dominion emergency authority to operate Yorktown’s coal units to meet peak load demands. The group argued that hot summer weather and federal environmental standards that the utility has known about for five years do not constitute an emergency.
Bonita Billingsley Harris, a Dominion spokeswoman, called the Sierra Club filing “totally irresponsible,” noting that the order came in response to a request from PJM Interconnection, which manages the regional electric grid.
“The Sierra Club’s action would jeopardize the health and safety of people in the area, and threaten national security at a time when summer temperatures and heat index push 105 degrees,” she said. “We have worked for five years to bring cleaner energy to the area with the Skiffes project and remain committed to it, but PJM says Yorktown is needed now, and we have to respect that.”
Asked by Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, whether the preservation and environmental groups might “shut down the Peninsula” if they were successful, Mark Webb, a Dominion senior vice president, told the General Assembly’s Commission on Electric Utility Regulation on Wednesday that the Peninsula could experience “service reductions, rolling blackouts, whatever you want to call it,” on certain days.
“Under certain scenarios, extreme heat days, it gives us no tolerance for any outage on those lines,” Webb said.
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