RMA officers and board:

 

 I went to the hearing in Warrenton for the 7 pm session last night.  At the start, there were 25 people from the afternoon session who did not get to speak and were first up in the evening.  Many afternoon speakers were not there when called, but, since there was no time limit for speakers, unlike in Richmond where comments were to be within 3 minutes or so, some people went on and on.  

 

 At 9 there was a break.  I was told the hearing would go until 11 and I was still way down on the list.  I had to leave but turned in the written comments. 

 

Interesting to note that this was a legal hearing.  Each speaker was sworn in.  Both Dominion and the Commonwealth had attorneys present.

 

 The speakers were extremely well qualified.  I am continually amazed at the interesting people that live in this area.  There were businessmen, former VA D OT Board appointees, former MIT professors (boy, did he ramble on and on.  We all know where his great grand father is buried and what his kids do, but I vent!), former Chamber of Commerce members (apparently the present Chamber members spoke in the afternoon and were the only group in favor of the line), an EPA director (lives in Rappahannock part-time).  Everyone had good points to make and contributed to the vast body of information on why the SCC should deny the application.

 

 One of the best speakers was Bonnie Aiken (as some might recall she is an RMA member who has property along the Appalachian trail.)  As a biochemist formerly involved in cancer research, she had lots of very detailed information on the effects of electromagnetic fields on cancer cell growth.  The Dominion lawyer tried to stop her from speaking several times but the SCC over-ruled him.  When the lawyer said she was not an expert and her testimony was hearsay, Bonnie produced the NIH papers.  The whole stack of research reports were allowed to go into the proceedings.

 

I imaging the most notable speakers like Duvall, and PEC went in the morning.  It will be interesting to see what appears in the papers on this.

 

Lauren