It wasn't only going to affect the Appalachian Trail and national forests, the power line was going to cross through my property. So as you can imagine, I was VERY concerned and active against it. The purpose of the powerline wasn't to provide more power to our community. The utility company wanted to tap into the game of selling electricity to other states. If Bush's Energy Bill is passed, eminent domain will fall out of the power of states and into the hands of the Feds. Try fighting the federal government instead of local officials who are far more accountable to voters.
From the article below, you will see it takes a concerted effort to fight the very powerful energy companies. I suggest you get many environmental groups and the State Park system involved in this battle. Good luck.
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Powerline Across the A.T. — Resolved
Forest Service Issues Final Decision on AEP Transmission Line
The Forest Service released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and the Record of Decision to allow the proposed 765 kV transmission line to cross the Jefferson National Forest in southwest Virginia. The crossing will be a single one, in the same location where the A.T. is crossed by I-77 in Bland County. While negative impacts will occur, this is the least-impact alternative for the A.T. More details are available on the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests Web site.
December 31, 2002
Issue Background
Since 1990, the Appalachian Trail Conference and the Roanoke A.T. Club (RATC) have been seeking rerouting of a 765,000-volt powerline, with its huge towers, proposed by American Electric Power (AEP, formerly APCo) to run from Wyoming, W.Va., to Cloverdale, Va., terminating at a substation just east of the Appalachian Trail. The Trail community's position is that the line should cross the Trail only once, in an appropriate location. The proposal and various alternatives could have affected up to 34 miles of the Trail directly and 84 to 115 miles indirectly.
In 1992, a Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) hearing examiner approved a proposed route with minor modifications to reduce the impacts on the Trail, but West Virginia officials rejected the route application for lack of information. Three years later, Virginia officials asked the utility to evaluate alternatives that would remove the line from Carvins Cove along the A.T. and avoid crossing Sinking Creek Valley, also crossed by the A.T.
In June 1996, the Jefferson-George Washington National Forests and the National Park Service issued a draft environmental-impact statement that stated their preference to deny permission for the line to cross federal lands, because the impacts were too significant and could not be mitigated satisfactorily.
EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/protect/issues/powerline.html