Prince William County residents are pushing back against Dominion Energy’s proposed 6.5-mile power line, saying it threatens their neighborhoods and green space.
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. — Frustration is growing in Prince William County, where Wednesday night more than a hundred neighbors spoke out against Dominion Energy’s proposal for a new six-and-a-half-mile transmission line.
“This isn’t our first rodeo, we’ve been fighting this stuff for decades now,” said Senator Danica Roem (D) Prince William County.
“Who is this for,” questioned Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chair at-Large Deshundra Jefferson. “The people behind me, the people who’ve spoken out, it’s not for them.”
“It’s not wanted in my backyard and it’s not wanted in their backyard,” she added as the crowd cheered outside Beacon Hall on George Mason University’s SciTech Campus in Manassas.
Inside, Dominion Energy held an open house about the Nokesville-Bristow 230kV Electric Transmission Line project.
“This is a reliability project,” said Porlan Cunningham with Dominion Energy. “Dominion wants to ensure that the grid remains reliable.”
But, those at Wednesday night’s rally ahead of the open house weren’t convinced.
“Dominion has talked about grid stability, grid reliability, but why is that? What is draining our power grid so much that we have to talk about putting transmission lines in people’s backyards,” Jefferson asked.
“Data centers,” a neighbor yelled.
“Our backyards, our green space is being used as an extension chord for big data,” said Vida Carroll who is with the Civic Association of Brentsville and Surrounding Areas (CABSA).
Residents argue the project would come at a steep cost to their communities. “This several-mile, 100-foot-wide corridor is the width of an eight-lane highway that’s gonna go right through our communities,” one person said.
But Dominion says they’ve done both cultural and environmental studies, and that’s how they came up with the three proposed overhead routes that they presented.
“The routes are the ones that Dominion at this current time believes are the most feasible and least impactful,” said Cunningham.
“It’s going to destroy a lot, and it’s just not right,” said John Bianchi who lives in Braemar.
He’s lived in the neighborhood more than two decades.
“We moved there because of the backyard. We had a wooded area,” Bianchi said. “You don’t find that very often anymore and it’s a protected area.”
His neighbor, Chris Wetzel, recently moved to the area and decided to make the proposed route more visible to his neighbors who weren’t aware of it, but launched a big red balloon into the air.
“By putting the balloon out there it gives them a visual reference,” Wetzel said. “The power company can send a photo simulation of what it could look like. Go out there and see what it looks like in person and then try to see what you’re going to think of when you see ten of them lined up down your right of way.”
They and others say they understand the region’s growing power demand, but they questioned why this location for the proposed lines and why couldn’t be buried underground.
Cunningham said that was considered, but not feasible. “We initially had a proposed hybrid route which was partly overhead, partly underground,” she said. “But given the space constraints within the Nokesville area, but it’s just not the most prudent way to bring this project to life.”
Dominion Energy hopes to receive state approval and complete the project by 2029. Cunningham emphasized that community input still plays an important role.
“I’ve heard a lot of comments tonight that, ‘Oh, you’re gonna do what you wanna do anyway,'” she said. “That’s not true. The public definitely informs how we move forward with this project.”
She says that anyone who couldn’t attend the open house is encouraged to leave feedback on the project website’s feedback section