After four weeks of testimony and cross-examination, the power line evidentiary hearings in Richmond are over.

The administrative law judge now must pore over mounds of documents and statements, and make a very crucial recommendation to the State Corporation Commission.

Bob Lazaro, a spokesperson for the Piedmont Environmental Council who has been working on the case for years, acknowledged the judge's decision could dictate the outcome in Virginia.

"He's the person who weighs all the evidence and takes all the testimony," said Lazaro. "I'm not aware of the commissioners rejecting a recommendation from the judge."

The three-member S.C.C. then makes the 'final call' for the state of Virginia.

A Dominion Power witness made a splash early in the hearings, when he said the company would consider appealing a state rejection to the federal government.

"We need to keep our options open, because the need for electricity in Northern Virginia and the Winchester area is so very important," said Dominion Media Director Jim Norville. "We must be able to pursue other options as necessary."

That proclamation flies in the face of earlier statements, according to major opponents of the line.

"Dominion said at a hearing that we held that they were never going to go to the national level," lamented Congressman Frank Wolf, R-10th.

Lazaro added, "it's changed, 180 degrees it's changed."

The judge's decision may be a month or two away.

In that time span, West Virginia's commission is expected to render a decision.
Since the line would run through Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, any one of those states could reject the proposal and force Dominion and Allegheny to look for help elsewhere.

"The states work well together- transmission lines cross state lines, no doubt about it," said Lazaro. "In this instance, if any of the commissions feel it doesn't serve a local need....then they have the right to say, 'no'."

The Piedmont Environmental Council says it will continue to fight the case on the federal level, should it go there.