The Good News. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) finally got the message. Thanks to the efforts of political leaders throughout the region, including Governor Kaine, Attorney General McDonnell, Congressmen Davis and Wolf, dozens of local and national organizations and, most importantly, the outcry from the public, the DOE has decided to rehear this outrageous handout to the coal and utility industries. Hopefully, the rehearing will be the first step toward eliminating this anti-market, government intervention which subsidizes the dirtiest coal fired plants in the nation, undermines technological innovation, abuses property owners, tramples on states rights, damages historic resources and is generally antithetical to every aspect of developing a progressive energy policy in this country. It also shows that we have the power to stand up to these mighty special interests and make a difference.

The Bad News. The National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) designation was not stayed and the twelve month clock is still ticking on our local transmission line case currently in front of the State Corporation Commission (SCC). We will continue to need public support to ultimately defeat this designation. We also hope the Governor and Attorney General will take an even greater leadership role in this battle and consider litigating the case and leveraging political pressure points as they are doing in other affected states such as Pennsylvania and New York.

Although it's important to savor every victory in what will be a long fight, we cannot afford to relax now. The critical battles are in Virginia. If we don't win at the SCC, the NIETC designation is irrelevant for Dominion's proposed Power Towers. It's Game Over. Further, if we don't modernize Virginia's energy policies to emphasize efficiency, distributed generation, renewables, undergrounding, respect for property rights and advanced technology, we will face a continuing onslaught of new transmission lines such as the one Dominion Power currently plans to run from Hamilton down to the Middleburg substation and on to Warrenton.

The biggest threat we face right now is complacency. Some in our community, especially those along Dominion's I-66 "Alternative Route," are not fully engaged as they have been led to believe that they are no longer in peril from this transmission line. They are wrong. Of the five state agencies which expressed an opinion on routing in their testimony to the SCC, four recommended the I-66 Route. Further, in the Routing Study that Dominion presented to the SCC, 10 of the 14 criteria examined favored the I-66 Route. The SCC also has the power to consider additional routes as they have done in the Leesburg case.

Without question, everyone in this community is threatened by this or a future Dominion transmission line. Dominion counts on public apathy as it picks off communities one by one. We must all fight together to stop this line and change the way energy business is done in Virginia. We are extremely fortunate to have a number of organizations in this area, including the Piedmont Environmental Council, Virginia's Commitment, the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors and Virginians for Sensible Energy Policies that have worked hard to educate our community, fight Dominion's transmission line proposal, stop the NIETC corridor designation and improve Virginia's energy policies. Their expert testimony to the SCC clearly proves that this line is not needed and will likely make our energy MORE expensive and LESS reliable while unquestionably damaging our environment. These groups need and deserve your continued support. Equally important, we need your ongoing involvement to testify at the SCC, write our elected leaders and stay informed. Please visit the web sites for these organizations and find out what you can do to preserve this hallowed ground.