(Image from the Loudoun Times-Mirror.)
I have often criticized Del. May for his efforts on this issue, so let me offer our congratulations in his success. Del. May has ensured that there will be buried lines in Loudoun, and that achievement cannot be taken away from him.
Let's look at Del. May's accomplishment.
Late in the day March 4, the Virginia Senate approved making 1.8 miles of a 12-mile, 230-kilovolt line to be built from east of Leesburg to Purcellville a pilot project for putting electric lines underground. - The Loudoun Times-MirrorTwo years, a trip to Europe and back, multiple SCC hearings, negotiations with the company and last-minute revisions to legislation, and the result is less than 2 miles of underground lines. And the rest of that route, some 10.2 miles, will be above-ground, traditional high-tension wires.
Del. Joe May (R-western Loudoun) has worked for more than two years with Dominion executives and engineers and with his colleagues in the General Assembly to get the company to try underground lines. He gathered data in Denmark and France, where all lines have been underground since the mid-1990s. He ranks passage of the bill at the top of his list of accomplishments in his 15 years representing Loudoun in the General Assembly. - Loudoun Times-MirrorThis outcome is a calculated triumph for Dominion Power. Consider, Dominion is opposed to any undergrounding of lines for cost reasons, but Dominion wants its new line badly, because it is going to make a ton of money selling power to other regions, supplied through the new line. There is a cross-over point at which Dominion can tolerate some undergrounding while still making a quite healthy profit on the line. Dominion knows that Del. May has been pushing for undergrounding for years, and that public is vehemently opposed to the new line for aesthetic reasons. Thus, it is in Dominion Power's interest to win its case before the SCC, establishing its right to build whatever it sees fit as a precedent, and then magnanimously accept a "negotiated compromise" with Del. May, thus co-opting the legislator it has already been buttering up with campaign donations and trips (seriously, a Redskins game?) and defusing public outcry, as long as that compromise is of minimal impact to the overall profitability and progress of the new line project.
Dominion's Le Ha Anderson said construction of the line, including the underground portion, will start in December. The company's previous approval from the State Corporation Commission calls for the line to be delivering electricity to a new substation at the W&OD and Berlin Turnpike by January 2011. - Loudoun Times-MirrorIn the end Dominion Power wins by getting its new line with a bare minimum of public hassle and outcry, and Del. May wins by getting credit for getting "something" done on this issue. And the wealthy residents near the 1.8 miles of proposed undergrounding win by keeping their neighborhood pristine.
That portion of the line runs through the Shenstone subdivision, the Loudoun County Fairgrounds and several residences and farms, at least one of which is under a conservation easement.It's funny that the portion of the line that will now be underground is the portion that runs through a subdivision that had threatened to sue Dominion Power, and that it was done not by litigation, but by legislative fiat.The Shenstone homeowners association had considered asking the state Supreme Court to overturn SCC approval of the overhead lines, said its counsel, Randy Sutliff. - Loudoun Times-Mirror
The only loser in this deal is the public on the remaining 10.2 miles of the corridor, who will see more high-tension wires. And once those lines are built, one can bet that they will not be a candidate for future undergrounding for decades.
So yes, congratulations are in order for Del. Joe May. He succeeded in getting the absolutely minimal amount of underground lines necessary approved, in order to preserve the profit and business of the monopoly power company that funds his campaigns and takes him to Europe and Redskins games, as well as accommodate wealthy homeowners who would otherwise have sued Del. May's corporate partner. And in doing so, gets credit for getting lines buried, when all he really did is delay true underground lines in Loudoun for another twenty years.
And this is Del. May's top accomplishment after 15 years in the General Assembly: 1.8 miles of underground lines.
Our Delegate should aim his sights a little higher.
Seems like Dominion has tapped into how to get things done while they're under serious pressure. They argue that they should get everything just they way they want (or else NOVA will go dark) and fight like mad for it. Then, finally they compromise in the form of giving up some minor concession and the rest goes their way. This is a good example and GreenMiles' example from yesterday - Dominion admitted that the Wise County coal plant isn't as clean as they claimed, they give up a point of profit, and suddenly they've got their shiny grungy polluting coal plant.
This is why it is only public power and authority, in the persons of elected officials, that can rein in hyper-aggressive corporations, especially monopolies like Dominion and Comcast.