Power line foes mobilize Stafford residents work within system

Opponents of a proposed transmission line that would run through part of Stafford County discuss their strategy

Date published: 11/11/2006

By MAYA RAO

This is what happens when plans call for a high-power transmission line attached to 130-foot-high towers to run through an affluent area of North Stafford:

Homeowners form a 300-strong opposition group called Towering Concerns. Stay-at-home moms deluge subdivisions with fliers.

And a suit-clad engineer delivers a slide presentation in a packed high-school auditorium on the health, environmental and financial pitfalls of Dominion Virginia Power's plan, and how his fellow residents can stop it.

Forget chain-yourself-to-a-tree activism. These are white-collar professionals with the money, time and resources to know that they aren't going to get their way by bucking the system, but by working within it.

Towering Concerns organized the community forum at Colonial Forge High School Wednesday night to discuss concerns that have been stewing since the summer, when Dominion announced its plans. Their power line would span five miles, from Aquia Harbour to Mountain View Road, connecting to a substation off Garrisonville Road.

Officials from the utility have said the project will provide a reliable source of energy in the area, and held a workshop in July to answer residents' questions. Still, opposition continues to mount.

"We strive for acceptable alternatives that are win-win," Towering Concerns President Buddy Secor said at Wednesday's forum. "We are not fighting the power lines. That will not work. Dominion is not the bad guy."

But Dominion did not garner much praise Wednesday. In between the grim claims of how the power lines might cause cancer, depreciate property values, and make the area plain ugly, Secor showed clips of a 1950s movie classic, in which Godzilla crashes through power lines in Tokyo.

Computer simulations of what the towers would look like on Rodney Thompson Middle School's ball field, behind a Methodist church and along the suburban roadside also were billed as monstrosities.

"Jesus," one audience member muttered.

"That's dis-gusting !" said another.

Secor repeatedly urged residents to attend the State Corporation Commission's Jan. 25 public hearing for the project at the school--and bring everyone they know to fill the auditorium.

The alternative of burying the power lines was batted around at length. Residents complained that company officials said it would be too costly.

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Date published: 11/11/2006