CHAPTER 332
An Act to direct the State Corporation Commission to analyze the implications of a requirement that it consider imposing a condition, when requested by certain localities, that proposed electrical transmission lines be installed underground.
Approved March 21, 2005
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. That the State Corporation Commission shall analyze the implications of a requirement that it consider imposing a condition, when requested by certain localities, that proposed electrical transmission lines be installed underground, as follows:
A. By January 1, 2006, the State Corporation Commission shall conduct an analysis of the effects on all affected persons of an amendment to § 56-46.1 of the Code of Virginia that would:
1. Require the Commission, when it considers the effects of an electrical transmission line to be located in any city or county with a population of more than 225,000, based on the latest population estimates of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service of the University of Virginia, to consider the impact of such transmission line if it were to be located underground, if requested by the governing body of the city or county;
2. Authorize the Commission, if it finds that underground location would minimize adverse environmental impact and is otherwise in the public interest, to condition its approval of the electrical transmission line upon the line being located underground; and
3. Require the Commission, if it approves the construction of the electrical transmission line without imposing such a condition, to state, in its order approving the construction of the facility, its reason or reasons for declining to impose such a condition.
B. The State Corporation Commission shall submit the results of its analysis to the Governor and to the chairmen of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor and the House Committee on Commerce and Labor.