7/12/08 Update: Save the Trail, Inc, Delegate Joe May and the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority received a Resolution of Appreciation on June 30th from the Loudoun Board of Supervisors. You can click here to download a PDF of the Loudoun Board of Supervisor's Resolution of Appreciation. We'd like to express our great appreciation to Delegate Joe May, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and all the legal counsels who represented the Trail for their efforts too.
Underground Lines to be placed on the Trail: With the signing into law of HB1319 by Governor Tim Kaine in April, approximately 2 miles of the SCC ordered Modified D Route will be placed underground. The rest of this route will have overhead transmission lines. The underground portion along the Trail will run between the town of Leesburg and Clarke's Gap. We will provide details on construction here when we receive them from Dominion Virginia Power as well as link to DVP and the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority's websites to provide additional information. Stay Tuned!
4/14/08 Update from Save the Trail:Great News - HB1319 was signed into law by Governor Tim Kaine today!
3/3/08 Update from Save the Trail:GOOD NEWS - Delegate Joe May's HB1319 cleared the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee today 15-0 affirmative and hopefully will pass the full General Assembly and be signed into law by Governor Kaine this week. Thank you for your help contacting the committee.
Save the Trail sincerely thanks Delegate Joe May and our words here can't express our gratitude and respect for his efforts. We thank, too, the members of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. Finally but importantly, we sincerely thank Dominion Virginia Power and, in particular, the engineers involved with beginning underground transmission line pilot projects in Virginia.
12/5/07 Update from Save the Trail: Save the Trail, Inc. today calls on the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) to reject the November 28, 2007 Supplemental Report of hearing examiner, Howard P. Anderson, Jr. in the Pleasant View Hamilton 230 kV Transmission Line, Case # PUE-2005-00018. Click here to go to our What You Can Do page, to see how you can help right now!
Save the Trail asks the SCC to not site the transmission line along the hearing examiner's well-intentioned but misguided Modified D‚ route as put forth in his Supplemental Report. This route will industrialize the W&OD Trail by placing the transmission towers and power lines directly on the W&OD Trail between the town of Leesburg and Clarke's Gap. Our region spoke strongly and decisively with over 5000 signatures submitted to the SCC telling the Commission to protect the W&OD Trail. We implore the SCC to respect this natural resource used by over 2 million people each year by selecting another route, in particular the preferred E-7 route of the applicant in this proceeding, Dominion Virginia Power.
12/3/07 Update from Save the Trail: Save the Trail Calls on the SCC to reject the Modified D Route - It does NOT protect the W&OD Trail at all!We all lose if the SCC rules for the Modified D Route. Please read this Letter to the Editor to learn more now. Future information to be posted on the website shortly on how you can help.
11/28/07 Update from Save the Trail: The SCC Hearing Examiner has recommended the Modified D Route which will run above ground along a portion of the W&OD Trail west of Leesburg to Clark's Gap. A final ruling by the Commission is expected likely before the end of the year. Please click on this link to read the 22 page report.
10/10/07 Update from Save the Trail: A final decision from the Virginia State Corporation Commission is expected before 2008. We will keep faith until the decision is announced that the three commissioners will protect our much-loved regional park.
3/6/07 Update from Save the Trail: No Decision by the SCC until further hearings begin on July 31, 2007. We cannot proceed in this legal battle before the SCC without immediate financial support. Please read this letter and donate today!!
1/23/07 Update from Save the Trail: Save the Trail would like to update the community. The hearing examiner filed his report on January 4, 2007 to the SCC commission. The 3 SCC commissioners may disagree with the hearing examiner's recommended Modified D route and select another route including selecting the W&OD Trail.
Although Save the Trail supports the removal of the majority of the W&OD Trail proposed in the Modified D route recommended in the hearing examiner's report, we do not support the findings of this report which place the transmission towers in very close proximity north of the segment of the W&OD Trail between Leesburg heading west to Clark's Gap and the families who will live adjacent to this route. Our legal counsel will file comments to the SCC before their January 25 deadline. You can read the hearing examiner's 81 page report and Save the Trail’s filed briefs by visiting the Virginia State Corporation Commission's website at http://www.scc.virginia.gov/caseinfo.htm
The case # is PUE-2005-00018.
We will continue to need the support of the community as this battle to save the trail is not over yet! Please donate online today. Thank you.
8/17/06 Update from Save the Trail: The hearings concluded on July 20, 2006. Our legal expenses continue to build. Please contribute and help us save our Trail today. Visit the Trail and you'll know why your support is so critical.
The next phase of the process to decide where the power lines will be built is in mid-September when all the attorneys (representing the various parties in this case) are to file their respective legal briefings to the SCC and the hearing examiner. The hearing examiner will then write his final report to the three SCC commissioners by early 2007 if not sooner. The three SCC commissioners will then make the ultimate determination of where the power lines are built and their decision is anticipated next Winter.
Please donate today! Go to the What You Can Do page. Thank you for supporting the W&OD Trail!
Save the Trail, Inc. is a non-profit organization of concerned citizens in Loudoun County, Fairfax County, and the greater Washington, D.C., area. Save the Trail, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, charitable organization dedicated to preserving the W&OD Trail and your contributions are fully tax deductible.
