VTechWorks staff will be away for the Thanksgiving holiday beginning at noon on Wednesday, November 27, through Friday, November 29. We will resume normal operations on Monday, December 2. Thank you for your patience.
 

The Appalachian Power Company Along the New River: The Defeat of the Blue Ridge Project in Historical Perspective

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorWoodard, Robert Sethen
dc.contributor.committeechairBarrow, Mark V. Jr.en
dc.contributor.committeememberFine, Elizabeth C.en
dc.contributor.committeememberHirsh, Richard F.en
dc.contributor.departmentHistoryen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:38:34Zen
dc.date.adate2006-07-13en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:38:34Zen
dc.date.issued2006-05-11en
dc.date.rdate2006-07-13en
dc.date.sdate2006-05-25en
dc.description.abstractThe Appalachian Power Company is an operating company of the American Electric Power Company, the largest electricity producing private electric system in the United States since 1953. The Appalachian Power Company held almost exclusive development rights along the New River since its 1911 charter. From then until the 1940s, it built a few small dams, a very large hydroelectric dam with the highest generating capacity of its time, and the largest steam plant in Virginia on the New River. Besides a few navigation issues, conflicting developments, and brief clashes with the federal government, seen in Chapter Two of this thesis, the Appalachian Power Company's developments along the New River went largely unchallenged until the late-1960s. The Blue Ridge Project was the utility's next large hydroelectric project on the New River. It was slated to impound the waters of the upper New River in Grayson County, Virginia, with two reservoirs extending into the river's headwaters in the counties of Ashe and Alleghany in northwestern North Carolina. Though the initial project met no serious opposition, environmental lawyers and the State of North Carolina defeated a considerably enlarged version of the proposal after a legal battle lasting over a decade. Why was this double impoundment not successfully constructed? What had changed in the last decades to influence Appalachian Power's previously unchallenged right to generate electricity along the New River? The purpose of this thesis is to answer these questions.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Artsen
dc.identifier.otheretd-05252006-153954en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05252006-153954/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/33226en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartENTIRETHESIS.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectNew River Valleyen
dc.subjectAppalachian Power Companyen
dc.subjectNew Riveren
dc.subjectDamsen
dc.subjectEnvironmental Movementen
dc.subjectBlue Ridge Projecten
dc.titleThe Appalachian Power Company Along the New River: The Defeat of the Blue Ridge Project in Historical Perspectiveen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineHistoryen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
ENTIRETHESIS.pdf
Size:
461.55 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Masters Theses