A group of Northern Virginia residents protested Thursday against a plan to build a transmission line in a 6.5-mile stretch of Prince William County, as Dominion Energy hosted an event explaining why the project is needed.
At Patriot High School in Nokesville, Virginia, Dominion organized an hourslong open house for its proposed Nokesville-Bristow project. The plan calls for a 230-kilovolt transmission line that will connect the existing Nokesville Substation with a planned Bristow Switching Station.
Last week, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors effectively took two routes out of contention, saying it didn鈥檛 plan to offer Dominion easements or use of county property for the routes called 鈥渂lue鈥� and 鈥渓ight blue.鈥�
The proposal led to the latest clash between the Virginia utility and residents and lawmakers.
鈥淓verywhere I go, there are either data centers or more substations and these transmission towers,鈥� Carylee Carrington, a longtime Prince William County resident, said. 鈥淭his is where I want to have my kids grow up. I have a 14 and 11-year-old, and it鈥檚 just been shocking to see how things have changed.鈥�
Transmission line critics held a news conference in the school鈥檚 parking lot. Some sat on tractors. Others held signs that read 鈥淏ury the Lines鈥� and 鈥淪ave Our Rural Land.鈥�
An organization called The Coalition to Protect Prince William County planned the event, which featured state officials such as state Sens. Danica Roem and Jeremy McPike, among others.
Deshundra Jefferson, who chairs the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, told 海角精品黑料 local officials鈥� hands are 鈥渢ied to a certain extent, but that doesn鈥檛 mean we鈥檙e not going to fight against this.鈥�
鈥淒ominion can do better and they need to do better,鈥� Jefferson said. 鈥淲hat they’re looking at is profitability, not the people, not the communities that they’re impacting.鈥�
Dominion Energy said the Nokesville line is necessary to ensure community members have 鈥渄ependable electric service as the Innovation Park area expands,鈥� according to the project鈥檚 website.
At the company’s open house inside the school, residents lined up to read signs with project details and ask questions about the proposal.
Data centers are frequently mentioned as a reason for the need for the extra lines and Dominion spokeswoman Aisha Khan said they鈥檙e 鈥渁 big factor in driving that demand.鈥�
鈥淏ut so is electrification. So is the growing population. So are your hospitals, your schools, your fire stations,鈥� she said.
Demonstrators called for the line to be buried underground. Khan said that option has been studied but isn鈥檛 feasible. Other buried utilities are in the way, she said, and bedrock is a barrier.
鈥淭rying to get through that bedrock,鈥� Khan said. 鈥淚t’s going to take so long, so many months to try to drill through that. And on top of that, it’s going to be costly.鈥�
Dominion must submit a preferred line route to the State Corporation Commission for consideration before the project can move forward.
Khan did not have a cost estimate for the project or an estimated time frame for identifying a preferred route.
Walker Trenum, who has lived in Nokesville for 23 years, said many people are worried 鈥渁bout the whole data centers constantly pushing in, taking over Ashburn and they鈥檙e eventually going to work their way down here.鈥�
鈥淭he important thing is trying to drag that out as long as possible to keep the fight alive until people can see the real harms behind it.鈥�
Kat, another Nokesville resident, said the line is going to 鈥渃ut apart people鈥檚 private properties and it鈥檚 going to destroy the beauty of our lifestyle.鈥�
Khan said Thursday鈥檚 event was the second open house for the project, and comments can also be .
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