Opinion ID: 2794232
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Skiffes Creek Switching Station

Text: We now turn to JCC's third assignment of error in which it contends the Commission erred in its interpretation and application of Code § 56-46.1(F). Code § 56-46.1(F) states: Approval of a transmission line pursuant to this section shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of [Code] § 15.2-2232 and local zoning ordinances with respect to such transmission line. The Commission construed transmission line, as used in this provision, to include switching stations, so that Code § 56-46.1(F) exempted the Skiffes Creek Switching Station from the requirements of James City County zoning ordinances. This was error. While it is true that this Court gives great weight to the practical construction given to a statute by public officials charged with its enforcement, Commonwealth v. Appalachian Elec. Power Co., 193 Va. 37, 45, 68 S.E.2d 122, 127 (1951), we are not inextricably bound to that construction. If such a construction is based on a mistake of law, then this Court will not hesitate to reverse the decision of the public officials charged with the enforcement of the statute. See Virginia Elec. & Power Co. v. State Corp. Comm'n, 284 Va. 726, 736, 735 S.E.2d 684, 688 (2012). This Court has recognized that, in determining whether certain structures or uses are exempt from local zoning 38 ordinances, there must be a manifest intention on the part of the legislature to do so. City of Norfolk v. Tiny House, Inc., 222 Va. 414, 422-23, 281 S.E.2d 836, 840-41 (1981). Although the Commission's position that switching stations and transmission lines function together and should be governed under the same authority is well-taken, the intention to exempt switching stations from local zoning ordinances is not manifest within Code § 56-46.1. Under the plain language of Code § 5646.1(F) the only structures or uses expressly exempt from local zoning ordinances are transmission lines. Thus, because switching stations are not expressly exempt under Code § 5646.1(F), the question before this Court is whether the term transmission lines includes switching stations. As stated previously, [w]hen construing a statute, our primary objective is to ascertain and give effect to legislative intent, as expressed by the language used in the statute. Cuccinelli, 283 Va. at 425, 722 S.E.2d at 629 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted) (emphasis added). The General Assembly's intent is usually self-evident from the statutory language, and we look first to the plain meaning of the words used in the statute. Rutter v. Oakwood Living Ctrs. of Va., Inc., 282 Va. 4, 9, 710 S.E.2d 460, 462 (2011) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Title 56 of the Code of Virginia, governing public utilities, does not define the term 39 transmission line as used in Code § 56-46.1(F). However, determining the meaning of the term transmission line does not require analysis [f]rom an engineering standpoint as the Commission argues. A layperson can identify the plain meaning of a transmission line: the wires used to transmit electric current over great distances and the structures necessary to physically support those wires. Transmission line does not mean switching station. A switching station remains just that: a station. A switching station is a facility, and thus is distinguishable from and more intrusive to its surrounding environment than transmission lines. It is reasonable for such facilities to be subject to local zoning, while continuous transmission lines are exempt because of the onerous nature of navigating local zoning ordinances for all the acreage over which transmission lines cross. The application itself delineates Project components as lines and a station. The Commission noted that [t]he engineering evidence in this case also demonstrates that no 'transmission line' . . . will simply end at the property line of the Skiffes Creek Switching Station. The fact that the transmission line continues does not by necessity incorporate the facility into the transmission line. The station remains a 40 facility, and the plain language of transmission line under Code § 56-46.1(F) does not encompass a station facility. We note the General Assembly has previously employed a similar definition. In 2006, the General Assembly mandated that the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), a legislative oversight commission composed of nine members of the House of Delegates and five members of the Senate, see Code § 30-56, evaluate the feasibility of undergrounding transmission lines in the Commonwealth. H. J. Res. 100, Va. Gen Assem. (Reg. Sess. 2006). As part of its evaluation, the JLARC conducted a comprehensive review of the Code and Commission policies with regard to transmission lines. In its subsequent report, the JLARC defined transmission lines as the conductors (wires or cables) which carry power at a high voltage level from the plants to local substations some distance away. Joint Legislative Audit and Review Comm’n, Report to the Governor and General Assembly of Virginia: Evaluation of Underground Electric Transmission Lines in Virginia, House Doc. No. 87, at 4 (2006), available at http://leg2.state.va.us/dls/h&sdocs.nsf/By+Year/HD872006/$file/H D87.pdf (last visited March 25, 2015). The Commission's rationale for its construction of the statute is that a switching station is an electrically, physically, and operationally inseparable part of several high 41 voltage transmission lines. Using this logic, an electrical generating facility would likewise be a transmission line for the purposes of Code § 56-46.1(F). Without an electrical generating facility, a transmission line would be nonfunctioning and incomplete; therefore, according to the Commission's holding, the General Assembly also intended to regulate electrical generating facilities as transmission lines. The language of the statute makes it clear that this was not the General Assembly's intent. We also note the ease with which the General Assembly could have included substations in Code § 56-46.1(F), as exempt from local zoning ordinances, along with transmission lines, had that been its intent. Code § 56-46.1(A) includes any electrical utility facility, whereas Code § 56-46.1(B) addresses only electrical transmission line[s]. Both terms are contemplated under the same statute. Here, the plain language of Code § 56-46.1(F) does not reflect a manifest intent on the part of the General Assembly to exempt switching stations from local zoning ordinances. The Commission therefore committed a mistake of law. Accordingly, we will reverse the decision of the Commission with regard to the applicability of Code § 56-46.1(F) to the Skiffes Creek Switching Station. 42