SCC hearing examiner opposes undergrounding power lines

Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) Hearing Examiner Renae Carter issued a report Nov. 1 recommending that the proposed Aspen to Golden power lines in Loudoun County be constructed overhead entirely on the south side of Route 7.

Loudoun County government and citizens have pressed repeatedly for undergrounding the power lines for more than a year to avoid disrupting historically sensitive areas, commercial properties, helipad accessibility of Inova Landsdowne Hospital and site views of nearby residential communities.

The project would build 230 and 500 kilovolt electrical lines on monopole towers running from a substation south of Rt. 7 and west of Belmont Ridge Road to a substation near the intersection of Rt. 28 and the W&OD Trail.

Despite overwhelming public pressure to underground the lines, Dominion Power has equally pressured the SCC to not underground the lines due to the higher cost and maintenance hurdles involved with doing so.

Carter’s recommendation will now be taken up by the three-judge SCC panel which will make the final determination. Jehmal Hudson, Samuel Towell and Kelsey Bagot will determine if the approximate nine miles of new transmission lines are built and whether a portion of the line will be required to be constructed underground.

“We are disappointed but not surprised by the Hearing Examiner’s report. As you know, Dominion Power aggressively opposed the undergrounding proposal. The report will now be presented to the SCC Commissioners subject to comment and legal review by the participants in the case prior to the time the Commissioners issue a final order,” said Bryan Turner, a lawyer with Turner, Holden & Turner, PLLC who represents Lansdowne Conservancy, a property owners association that has expressed concerns about the transmission line project.

The association created a website about the project.

The Commissioners are not bound by the Hearing Examiner’s report and may act independently of it. 

“We are working with the County to determine how best to proceed,” Turner said.

Audrey Carpenter is the Northern Virginia Bureau Chief of All Virginia News. She can be contacted at: audreycarpenter@allvirginia.news