By Heather Michon
Editor
Opponents of the proposed Valley Link transmission line are preparing for a fight–one that may ultimately depend less on public outrage than on paperwork, expert testimony and a carefully constructed legal record.
That was the message from a public meeting at Moss-Nuckols Elementary School in Louisa on Tuesday, July 28, a gathering that drew well over 100 residents from across the project’s nine-county path.
Speakers told residents that the upcoming State Corporation Commission (SCC) review will be crucial in challenging the 765-kilovolt line that will cut across Central Virginia.
Assuming the SCC approves Valley Link’s $1 billion proposal, opponents could challenge the ruling with the Virginia Supreme Court. This means that residents, citizen groups, and local government must get their objections on the record now.
“Courts cannot evaluate evidence that was never placed before the SCC,” said Michael Rogers of Orange County.
Reagan said opponents need to challenge the utilities’ evidence, cross-examine witnesses and preserve every argument they may later want a court to consider. Public comments remain important, he said, but formal interveners with attorneys and expert witnesses will carry much of the legal burden.
If approved, the Joshua Falls-to-Yeat project would run 115 miles from Campbell County to Culpeper County through nine Central Virginia counties, including Fluvanna. The project was selected through PJM Interconnection’s regional transmission planning process to address projected electricity demand.
A major focus will be the demand forecasts used to justify the project.
Reagan said technical experts will be needed to examine how much projected growth comes from Northern Virginia data centers, and how much depends on speculative commercial projects that may never be built. Opponents also want to know whether large electricity users included in earlier forecasts have been canceled, delayed, or scaled back.
Speakers cautioned that opponents should not concede that the line is necessary by asking Valley Link to take a different route or requesting underground construction. Reagan said doing so could allow the SCC to treat the underlying need for the project as undisputed.
Instead, he said, opponents should directly challenge whether Valley Link is necessary, and whether it serves the public interest under Virginia law.
Louisa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Duane Adams said counties along the route have been working together to strengthen local comprehensive plans, coordinate legal strategy and present a unified face. Adams said localities have limited authority over transmission-line routes, but comprehensive plans can provide evidence of local land-use priorities. Counties may have more direct authority over substations, which can require local land-use approval.
Adams maintains that Valley Link expected people in Central Virginia to roll over, but instead, residents were standing up to protect their communities.
“Our land is no less valuable, no less important than Northern Virginia,” he said. “I would argue that our land is more important, because we grow things on it that people eat.”
The meeting’s final presentation focused on possible health and environmental effects from electromagnetic fields associated with high-voltage transmission lines.
Theodora Scarato, introduced as director of the wireless and electromagnetic fields program at the Montana-based nonprofit Environmental Health Sciences, cited studies involving childhood leukemia, Alzheimer’s disease, pregnancy outcomes, insects and wildlife.
She argued that commonly cited exposure standards for electromagnetic fields are designed primarily to prevent short-term effects and do not fully address long-term residential exposure.
Those claims are likely to become another area where opponents seek expert testimony and scientific evidence for the SCC record.
Valley Link is working on finalizing route maps and is now expected to submit an application to the SCC by the end of the year.
Speakers repeatedly emphasized that the project is not inevitable simply because it reaches the SCC. They said transmission proposals can be altered or withdrawn when legal, political and financial obstacles build throughout the regulatory process.
“This is a long, hard fight,” Adams said. “But this is a fight we can win.”
