Feds approve power line corridor through Virginia

The agency created a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor that stretches from Virginia north into New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. Locally, the corridor would run from the Shenandoah Valley through Loudoun and Fairfax counties into the District of Columbia. The department also approved a corridor in Arizona and California.

Power companies denied permission by local and state governments to build power lines in the corridor can take their case to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC has the authority to overrule the localities and allow the lines to be built if it determines that additional electrical capacity is needed in that area.

“These national corridors serve as an important indication by the federal government that significant transmission constraint or congestion problems exist,” said Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman. “The goal is simple — to keep reliable supplies of electric energy flowing to all Americans.”

Virginians living near where lines could be built in the future opposed the corridors, arguing the transmission lines would harm the environment and damage the surrounding area.

“It makes no sense and has the potential to destroy neighborhoods and desecrate huge swaths of historically significant land,” said U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va.

“The fact that power companies will continue to be able to ignore the need for increased conservation and smart technology remains extremely troublesome,” Wolf said. “It is almost as if the department didn’t listen to any of the arguments against creating these corridors.”

In Virginia, Dominion Power is proposing to build a 500-kilowatt transmission line in the corridor. Dominion is also facing local opposition to the new lines, but company officials say the lines are needed because new families, businesses and technology corporations are moving in west and south of Washington