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On America’s Founding River, two men battle each other for progress and history

  • The statue of John Smith looks out over the James...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    The statue of John Smith looks out over the James River on Thursday, June 21, 2018.

  • Jamestown archaeologist David Givens talks on Thursday, June 21, 2018...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    Jamestown archaeologist David Givens talks on Thursday, June 21, 2018 about his concerns with the power transmission lines being built across the river.

  • Construction of towers for power transmission lines across the James...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    Construction of towers for power transmission lines across the James River continues on Thursday, June 14, 2018.

  • Doug Keesee, Dominion Energy project manager for the power transmission...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    Doug Keesee, Dominion Energy project manager for the power transmission lines being built across the James River, looks out at one of the platforms being built to support the towers on Thursday, June 14, 2018.

  • A crane building one of the towers for the power...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    A crane building one of the towers for the power transmission lines can be seen on the James River from the Colonial Parkway near Jamestown on Thursday, June 21, 2018.

  • Construction of towers for power transmission lines across the James...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    Construction of towers for power transmission lines across the James River continues on Thursday, June 14, 2018.

  • Power lines run to the edge of Peninsula side of...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    Power lines run to the edge of Peninsula side of the James River, photographed on Thursday, June 14, 2018. Towers are being built across the James to carry the power transmission lines.

  • The James River seen from Jamestown on Thursday, June 21,...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    The James River seen from Jamestown on Thursday, June 21, 2018.

  • Doug Keesee, Dominion Energy project manager for the power transmission...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    Doug Keesee, Dominion Energy project manager for the power transmission lines being built across the James River, rides a boat out to the platforms being built to support the towers on Thursday, June 14, 2018.

  • Doug Keesee, Dominion Energy project manager for the power transmission...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    Doug Keesee, Dominion Energy project manager for the power transmission lines being built across the James River, pier used to bring cement trucks down for the project Thursday, June 14, 2018.

  • Steven Chafin of Dominion Energy talks about the power transmission...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    Steven Chafin of Dominion Energy talks about the power transmission lines and towers that are being built across the James River on Thursday, June 14, 2018.

  • Barges and cranes spread out across the James River to...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    Barges and cranes spread out across the James River to build the towers and power transmission lines on Thursday, June 14, 2018.

  • Jamestown archaeologist Bill Kelso points down the James River on...

    Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot

    Jamestown archaeologist Bill Kelso points down the James River on Thursday, June 21, 2018 as he talks about his concerns with the power transmission lines being built across the river.

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Six miles of water separates Bill Kelso and Doug Keesee.

Both are weathered by years of working in the sun. Both are in the silver-haired stage of life. Both have spent decades devoted to their careers — one looking back, the other forward.

Their paths cross on this one sliver of the James River.

Each has done all he could to stop the other.

One of Dominion Energy’s most controversial projects is coming to life: a massive, over-the-river transmission line the utility says is vital for powering the Peninsula but critics say will desecrate the historic view near Jamestown Island and parts of the Colonial Parkway.

Five years worth of meetings, studies and hearings came to a head in May, when a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from the opposition. An appeal has been filed, but the $325 million power line has already begun its march across the James.

Doug Keesee, 59, is the project’s manager — a get-it-done kind of guy with dusty, steel-toe boots and a Carolina drawl. Keesee leads an army of construction workers, tugboats and heavy equipment, directing the biggest job of his 39 years with the company.

Out on the water, crews are putting concrete caps on pilings that were pounded deep into the riverbed over the winter. Before the lawsuit was dismissed, only that foundation work was allowed. Now, even with the appeal, they can forge ahead: 17 lattice towers spanning the river, four nearly 300 feet tall.

“I have passion for this work,” Keesee said. “I believe in what we do.”

Those same words could come from archaeologist Bill Kelso. He’s a half-dozen miles upriver overseeing meticulous excavations and mingling with tourists on Jamestown Island, which looks like a green blob in the distance from the power line site.

Kelso, 77, is a legend in archaeology circles. Nearly 25 years ago, he discovered the remains of the 1607 fort built by America’s first English settlers at Jamestown – a historical treasure long thought lost.

Photos in Kelso’s office show him talking with President George W. Bush and strolling with Queen Elizabeth II of England. Walls are lined with diplomas, plaques and books, including several he wrote.

“Jamestown is hallowed ground,” he said. “A sacred zone. I’m not against progress, but I just can’t believe they can’t bury that power line under the river or put it somewhere else. I mean, if you accept this, what’s next?”

Kelso has been in the thick of the resistance – a fight backed by a coalition that includes the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which cites the power line as reason enough to put the area on its annual list of the country’s most endangered historic places.

Preservation Virginia is part of the coalition’s appeal, filed June 11 in Washington.

“Our opposition is still as strong as it ever was,” said Elizabeth Kostelny, the group’s chief executive officer.

The appeal contends that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should have conducted a full environmental impact statement, among other things, before granting a permit for the line.

It’s a long shot. So far, the courts have ruled that the corps did an acceptable job studying the project, complying with all legal requirements.

Millions of mitigation dollars helped grease the wheels and undoubtedly muffled at least some of the protest. In a deal hashed out by the corps, Dominion agreed to its largest mitigation payout ever – $89.5 million – to be disbursed among a list of organizations for projects ranging from water quality to preservation. Jamestown Island will receive a share to shore up its seawall.

“It’s what we do to help,” said Steve Chafin, Dominion’s director of electric transmission planning. “We try to think, ‘How can we make these organizations happier?’ ”

But it’s blood money to folks at Jamestown, who’d prefer not to have a string of towers – some nearly as tall as the Statue of Liberty – severing a stretch of water designated by Congress as “America’s Founding River.”

David Givens is an archaeologist who works with Kelso.

“In our hearts,” he said, “we’ll never be OK with this.”

Keesee lives in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., just south of the Virginia line. He gets up at 4 a.m. on weekdays, drives to Surry and catches the Jamestown-Scotland ferry to the construction site.

The ferry passes right by Kelso’s house on Jamestown Island. The two have never met.

“It’s exciting for me to know,” Keesee said, “that Dominion Energy trusts me with such a huge project.”

He went to work for Dominion after a few years of college and made his way up through the ranks.

“I’ve given everything to this company,” he said, “and they have given it back.”

Keesee has no intention of failing. His days are spent pressing forward. Meetings. Materials. Manpower.

Hook-up lines on both banks have been ready for months, itching to be linked across the river. The towers are waiting in a staging area. Keesee’s happy the job has finally been unleashed. For him, it’s about keeping the lights on.

“People have no idea,” he said, “what it takes to make that little switch on the wall work.”

Dominion insists the new line is necessary and that its location and overhead design are the only reasonable, affordable options.

Known as the Surry-Skiffes Creek Transmission Line, it will run from a switching yard at the Surry Nuclear Power Plant to a new substation in James City County. Tapping into the nation’s electricity grid, the 500,000-volt line will replace power currently generated by an old Yorktown coal plant that’s on its last legs.

Without it, Dominion says, Peninsula residents, schools, hospitals, businesses and military installations are in danger of rolling blackouts, a situation where utilities throw switches to avoid a system-wide collapse.

During a collapse, regulators could fine Dominion as much as $1 million a day.

The company says it’s placing the line as far from Jamestown as possible, but is hemmed in by the flight path of Fort Eustis downriver.

“I wish there was a way to convince people we’re proud of what we do,” Keesee said. “I wish I knew the magic words. But I guess there’ll always be those who’ll never believe you anyway, right?”

He doesn’t get what all the uproar is about: “You won’t even be able to see it from Jamestown.”

That’s true. The southern end of the island blocks the view from tourists at the colonial fort site. They’d have to drive to the far end of the island’s scenic loop road, then take a five-minute walk along a forested footpath to ever get a glimpse.

But it’ll be hard to miss for those heading in along the Colonial Parkway – the picturesque artery of the Historic Triangle, drawing 3.5 million visitors a year.

“It’ll ruin the sense of history that people find here,” Kelso said. “It’ll hit you in the face.”

Keesee disagrees:

“People get used to seeing something and then they don’t even notice it anymore. That’s how it works.”

Kelso disagrees:

“I will never stop seeing it.”

The towers start climbing upward in August.

Who’s splitting the $90 million mitigation payout?

Ratepayers will cover the cost of the $325 million transmission line near Jamestown – a price tag that includes a nearly $90 million mitigation package.

Who’s splitting the mitigation money?

$26.2 million: The Conservation Fund – to be divvied among Historic Jamestown, Jamestown Island, the Colonial Parkway and Carter’s Grove for preservation, enhancement and shoreline projects

$25 million: Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation – for projects along the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail

$15.6 million: Virginia Environmental Endowment – to be used for grant awards for water quality improvements in the transmission line area

$12.5 million: Virginia Land Conservation Foundation – to be used for grant awards for land conservation and open space easement in the transmission line area

$4.5 million: Pamunkey Indian Tribe – to establish a historic preservation office and fund the tribe’s cultural center and shad hatchery

$4.2 million: Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries – for projects at Hog Island and Chickahominy wildlife management areas

$1.5 million: Chickahominy Indian Tribe – to preserve tribal historical documents and artifacts, undertake scholarly research and fund the tribe’s cultural center

Source: Dominion Energy Tags

Joanne Kimberlin, 757-446-2338, joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com