A battle over construction of a high-voltage transmission line across the James River near historic sites in Virginia ramped up when the National Park Service's director asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deny a permit for the estimated $180-million project.
Dominion Virginia Power proposed the 500-kV crossing near Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, early settlements in North America, as a way to alleviate power shortages expected in the Hampton Roads region after two coal-fired units at the Yorktown generating station are retired in 2017.