By Emily Brown | Nelson County Times

LYNCHBURG — As part of continued efforts to educate residents in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina about the effects of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Dominion Energy released detailed simulations of the pipeline’s visual impact on Nelson County on Tuesday.

With the help of Truescape, an international firm that works with companies to show the visual impacts of infrastructure projects on the surrounding environment, Dominion hopes simulations of the Wintergreen area could help people sort through perceptions and the reality of what the pipeline could look like if approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“I think more than anything what we’re hoping to accomplish by putting these out for the public,” said Dominion spokesman Aaron Ruby, “is to give the communities a realistic picture of what it looks like at the height of construction and then what the land is going to look like after construction is complete, after the land’s been completely restored.”

Dominion previously has worked with Truescape to develop simulations of transmission lines and substations. To create the images, Truescape used photographs taken in the fall of 2015 and details about the area provided by Dominion, such as the path of the pipeline. The simulations, all done to scale, took months to develop, Dominion spokesman Aaron Ruby said.

The simulations help reinforce Dominion’s position that, like the 2,200 miles of existing pipelines in Virginia, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline could go “virtually unnoticed” once the land near and in the rights of way is restored to its original condition.

A timeline of the review process released by FERC about two weeks ago indicates Dominion could receive approval to begin construction on the nearly 600-mile pipeline by late summer of 2017.

Through Truescape, Dominion has produced several simulations of how the Devils Knob overlook, Beech Grove Road and the entrance to Wintergreen Resort will look pre- and post-pipeline.

The Beech Grove Road and Devils Knob overlook simulations show an existing view and a snapshot of the area after the pipeline has been installed, while the Wintergreen Resort image shows what the area near the entrance will look like during construction and after construction.

Two other sets of simulations show the visual impact of the pipeline on agricultural land in Johnston County, North Carolina, and on residential property in Augusta County.

Each of the simulations shows temporary and permanent rights of way, as well as any other temporary workspaces associated with construction of the pipeline.

“I think because we hear terms like ‘scar across our mountains’ and all of these really loaded terms, I think people have this fear that’s it’s going to be so much worse than it is,” Ruby said. “The misconception people have is that somehow the visual impacts of this pipeline are somehow going to be a deterrent for people to come visit Wintergreen; that it’s going to somehow spoil the scenic beauty of the area.

“And I think if you look at these images and kind of take it all in, I think it’s pretty clear that people should not have those fears — that [the rights of way are] going to blend into the natural landscape of the area. … I think they should be reassured that the scenic beauty of the area is not really going to be impacted.”

All of the images can be found at dom.com/corporate/what-we-do/atlantic-coast-pipeline/construction.

Read more from The Daily Progress.