SCC Hearing Part 2: Testimonials

Part 2 - Testimony of Area Residents and State Wide Businesses

Bristowenews.com would like to remind our readers that the statements below do not represent the views of our news magazine, but in all fairness present a snapshot of the testimonials made at the hearing and provide readers with information. Again, we appreciate your patronage.

Prior to the testimony BristowEnews.com asked a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, who were there to observe the testimony, why they were there. The Rogers are residents of Haymarket, Virginia.

Dan Rogers: "I am here about the power lines and to see if there is anything we can do to stop it."
Eve Rogers: "I am here to get information also because one of the sites goes right by an elementary school and my daughter's house. I don't think it's safe for the kids. So I want to see what they have to say and what other people have to say. We have been to a lot of the meetings. They really haven't shown a need to have this power line and the proposed sites go right by the schools and through developments. I don't think it is a safe thing to have going practically right over an elementary school. Actually two elementary schools, the proposed line and I want to see what they have to say about it."

SCC Hearing Testimonial Compilations

Barbara Kessinger

The first citizen to speak at the Bristow portion of the SCC Public Hearing was Barbara Kessinger, a mother of eight who lives in Haymarket. She asserted that Dominion Power's application was "fundamentally flawed, incomplete, and self-serving." According to this speaker, "Dominion Power's application considers multiple sets of overlapping contingencies but does not consider multiple combinations of solutions. To address the need that's asserted, the KEMA Report considers transmission solutions, the demand-side management option, and generation solutions in isolation from each other. Nowhere in the KEMA Report are various combinations of energy solutions considered to obviate the need that's asserted. In fact, Dominion Power's application, despite its volume, doesn't consider any combination of solutions whatsoever."

Ms. Kessinger asserted that demand-side management (programs designed to manage electric consumption on the customer's side) is an integral part of any combination of solutions. Part of her testimony contrasted NOVEC's residential load management program with Dominion Power's residential programs, past and present. She stated that NOVEC has offered its residential load management program continually for 28 years since 1979. About 18,000 of the 68,000 households that it services in Prince William County (about 27%) participate in load management. She also stated that Dominion Power does not offer a residential load management program equivalent to NOVEC's, although it once offered a similar program (called "Cycle Control") for a two-year period that ended 16 years ago. The utility company has offered residential time-of-use metering programs since the late 1970's, but only about 15,000 of the 2.3 million customers it services in Virginia (less than 7/10 of 1%) are enrolled in those programs.

Ms. Kessinger asked the SCC, "Why is it that NOVEC has been able to enroll more households in Prince William County in its load management program than Dominion Power has apparently been able to enroll in its entire Virginia service area in its TOU metering programs?" This speaker also noted that Dominion Power's application comes at a time when many Commonwealth-wide initiatives are already being considered. She stated that the Virginia Energy Plan is in the process of being finalized, the SCC Electric Conservation Workgroup is meeting, and Governor Kaine's Executive Order No. 48 is in the process of being implemented. She also referenced an article published by Inside Defense Newsstand on May 29, 2007, entitled, "Electrical Grid Vulnerability Prompts Call for Energy-Independent U.S. Bases," suggesting any removal of military bases from the grid would significantly reduce Northern Virginia's need for electricity. She also referenced an order issued by the SCC on June 20, 2007, granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity to CPV Warren, LLC, for the construction of a clean, natural gas-fired plant that would increase Northern Virginia's supply of electricity by adding 600 megawatts to the grid.

In closing, Ms. Kessinger stated that, "The State Corporation Commission has been hearing high-voltage transmission cases for decades, but this case is different. It isn't just landowners of affected properties who oppose this line, and it isn't just environmentalists who oppose this line. While our leaders continue the debate over climate change, the cultural climate is changing. Ordinary citizens like me who expect sound energy decisions for the benefit of future generations oppose this line. This is probably the most controversial power line project that the Commission has ever considered."

Corey Stewart, Supervisor of Prince William County Board of Supervisors, gave testimony as a private citizen

Thank you your honor and thank you SCC for coming to our community. I'm here as a citizen today. Prince William County has entered as a respondent in the case and our attorneys' office will be representing the county in the case. The county is opposed to the power line. We do not think the power company has demonstrated a need for power in Northern Virginia. If there was a need, it would be serviced by this line. That said, I want to say I come to speak here as a citizen.

Prince William County is a rapidly growing community with over 400,000 residents. Over the last thirty years we have very carefully tried to lay down a plan in the community to protect its historical sites, to protect our delicate, pristine, environmentally sensitive land. We also tried to build buffers around our residentially planned communities. People have built their homes and moved down to the rural parts of the county here and have expected to be protected against those kind of impediments like the power lines, inside the community.

I would only ask that the SCC consider the need and the respect to the citizens in the county.

Steve Daves

I am here to express support for the transmission line on the preferred route. As you know the preferred route is adjacent to an existing right of way, where a transmission line of power already exists. I drive a route under the power lines to and from my children's school every day and I never notice the line. I've been a business owner and a resident of Northern Virginia for over 18 years.

I've been a Gainesville resident in Prince William County for eleven years. My family has experienced the growth in the area first hand. When we first moved to Gainesville the closest grocery stores were in Manassas and Warrenton, both ten miles away. Now we truly enjoy the local Gainesville amenities, grocery stores, restaurants, schools, etc. that have come and are planned for the area. It is also comforting to know that a branch of Prince William Hospital will be opening in Haymarket within three miles of my house next year. As you all know to enjoy the benefits of this requires power. Just last year technology components were installed last year in my children's school, for the benefit of my children and all of course require power.

When we moved to Gainesville in 1997 we owned one computer in our family. Now we own three. We also own a lot of the electrical devices that have evolved and come to expect with every day life and that is just one house. I believe all the families living here or considering it should have the opportunity to enjoy those benefits as well.

The economic livelihood of our region is directly related to having a reliable, secure, low cost source of power. I directly urge you to support the project, so that my family can enjoy the benefits yet to come in this great area.

Thank you.

Erin Fuller

Ms. Fuller resides in Arlington and her business is located in McLean, Virginia. The company she works for supports non-profit organizations and associations based locally, nationally and internationally. She expressed that these organizations contribute significantly to the Virginia economy and there are approximately thirty-eight thousand non-profit organizations in the area. She is concerned about having reliable electricity to prevent rolling black outs and shut down businesses which would have an economic impact on the State of Virginia. Non-profits and small businesses cannot survive without reliable power.

Michel Zajur

Michel Zajur is President of the VA Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and his mission is to help Hispanic businesses succeed. As an organization he represents many small businesses and residents in Northern Virginia. A crucial part is to have an uninterrupted electrical supply, which is important to the success of small businesses in providing for their clients and meeting contracts. Hispanic businesses have grown overall at a rate of fifteen percent between 1997 and 2007. Northern Virginia is one of the most rapidly growing areas in the nation and that this line will provide for the energy needs until 2016. He urged the approval of Dominion's request for this transmission line.

Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection

Vince Armstrong was outside the Hearing Room asking people to sign a petition opposing the line in addition to getting people to support the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection or RLEP. The flyer for RLEP asks supporters to send Dominion a message:

1. It is not right to disfigure Virginia's most picturesque landscape.
2. It is not right to take our land by condemnation for the benefit of well-heeled shareholders.
3. It is no all right to run roughshod over local communities in order to sell energy from polluting coal plants in the Ohio Valley to inefficient industrial users in the Northeast.
4. It is not right to ignore the promotion of energy conservation practices.
5. It is not all right to build 150-foot industrial towers on the edges of land held in conservation easement.
6. It is not all right to squeeze scenic rivers, wild lands, and historic places out of existence.
7. It is not all right to string highly energetic, dangerous power lines next to people's homes.

For more information visit: http://www.rlep.org

Joshua Low, Conservation Organizer of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club had no comment for BristowEnews.com. When BristowEnews.com investigated their web site, the Sierra Club statements says Virginia can do better than burning dirty coal, however all they say is help stop the power lines by telling your legislators, when actually every citizens voice in the testimony will be considered as part of the hearing record.

BristowEnews.com urges local residents of Bristow, Gainesville, and Nokesville to visit the State Corporation Commission (SCC) website. Interested persons desiring to submit comments electronically may do so at the SCC's website:

 

http://www.scc.virginia.gov/caseinfo/notice.aspx.

Scroll down the page and look for Case No. PUE-2007-00031 and PUE-2007-00033. Comment deadline is December 14, 2007

Every comment or testimony, including those submitted electronically, will be part of the hearing record regardless of the date and location of the public hearing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date Published: 2007-08-22 06:00:00

Section: Top Headline,