Dominion Energy says it will begin limited construction to bring a new high-voltage line across the James River from Surry County to Skiffes Creek, now that it has paid for some $90 million in mitigation work the Corps of Engineers required as a condition to approving the project.
The work will not include the 17 towers, some as high as 295 feet, that are to carry transmission line cables across the river. Dominion will work on the concrete foundations for the towers, and the fenders intended to keep boats away, spokeswoman Bonita Billingsley Harris said.
The project still faces a legal challenge in Washington from environmental and historic preservation groups, which charge that the Corps did not follow the law when approving the line.
