“From most of the Colonial Parkway, and the areas of Jamestown Island that are the focus of most public interest, such as the visitor’s center, fort, settlement, and archaeological digs, the (power line) will not be seen,” SCC hearing officer Alexander F. Skirpan Jr. wrote in a report urging the project’s approval.
While the towers will mar the view at Carter’s Grove, the SCC pointed out the historic home is now privately owned. The SCC also said there’s already substantial industrial and recreational development nearby.
“Visible already from the part of the James River where the (power line) would cross are, among other things, the Surry Nuclear Power Station, a resort community with a marina and riverfront golf course, the Ghost Fleet, theme park rides, water towers and a sewage treatment plant,” the SCC said.
Local homes, businesses and military installations, the SCC added, “depend on the same reliable electric grid to maintain the quality of life, health, safety and prosperity to which our commonwealth and our nation are accustomed.”
Even as James City is opposing the project, the SCC said the county also envisions “a major conference and recreational center” being built nearby. “The record demonstrates that this portion of the James River mixes progress with history.”
Growing opposition
But James City County, Save the James Alliance and the James River Association, represented by Richmond lawyer Andrew McRoberts, appealed the SCC’s decision to the Virginia Supreme Court, asking for a reversal.
For one thing, they contend the SCC got it wrong on the project’s historical impact.
They say the commission listened to Dominion’s “lay” witnesses, ignoring “world-renowned” experts who said the project would have severe negative repercussions. “The evidence of adverse impacts … was overwhelming and compelling,” McRoberts wrote in a court filing.
For another, the opponents assert the SCC went beyond its legal authority in granting a permit for the switching station at Skiffes Creek, which they say should be a James City County zoning decision.
And opposition to the towers appears to be growing.
Two powerful nonprofits, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Parks Conservation Association, are opposing the project at the federal level, joining the groups who fought it in the state process.
“When you get in a boat and you take a trip down that section of the river, you really get to experience it the way that John Smith and the first English colonists did,” said Sharee Williamson, associate general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in Washington, D.C.
“There are just some places that are too important and too integral to our shared history to think that building industrial architecture of that kind would be appropriate,” she said. “And this is one of those special places. … They need to find a river crossing in a less sensitive place.”
Both the Colonial Parkway and Jamestown Island are part of a national park, Williamson pointed out. And though Jamestown’s Black Point might not get many visitors, she said, “if you do go out to Black Point, this will be a permanent intrusion on the historic experience of that place.”
Williamson also contends the towers would “devastate” the view from Carter’s Grove, saying she doesn’t find “particularly persuasive” the SCC’s argument that the view from the plantation home is less important now that it’s in private hands.
“It’s a national historic landmark, and that doesn’t change no matter who owns it,” she said. “It is one of the most significant pieces of Georgian architecture in the United States. It’s gone in and out of private and public ownership over its history, and it’s likely to again.”
Of the existing on-shore developments cited by the SCC, Williamson said they are mostly buffered by trees and hardly seen from the river. “It’s true that those things are there, but they’re not very visible at all,” she said. “You’re not going to be able to screen those transmission lines with trees.”
Because of Federal Aviation Administration rules, she said, lights will blink from the towers all night long.
“It’s going to be fairly dramatic,” Williamson said. “Once you get something that’s very large and dramatic in scale that crosses the river, the next project that comes along will just be bigger. It sets a very bad precedent.”
But Dominion, for its part, contends it took such concerns into account and chose “the least impactful and most economical” route it could.
“Dominion is sensitive to the historical and environmental concerns of the area,” Harris said. “That’s important to us, too. … We considered all the viable alternatives, but only our proposal solves in a timely manner all the problems associated with providing reliable power to the region.”
‘Transmission line’?
One of the biggest legal battles at Tuesday’s hearing will be over the definition of a “transmission line.” That is, is the proposed Skiffes Creek Switching Station — where the voltage will be downgraded after it makes landfall — part of that line?
The entire project could hinge on the high court’s answer. That’s because while the SCC has authority under law to decide where transmission lines go, it’s up to local governments to decide where to put “electric utility facilities.”
In this case, the SCC included the switching station in its permit, saying it’s as “integral” to the transmission line as the towers.
But James City County and other opponents contend the permit was improper, saying Webster’s dictionary, state law and basic physics say transmission lines and switching stations are two different things.
If the high court agrees, the county could deny a permit for the station — and possibly kill the project.
Dujardin can be reached by phone at 757-247-4749757-247-4749
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