Dominion’s planned transmission line through rural Prince Wi...
Residents in rural Prince William County are protesting Dominion Energy's planned Nokesville-to-Bristow 230-kilovolt power line, citing concerns about property values, health, and environmental impact. The transmission line is intended to support data center growth, prompting calls from local and state officials to hold data centers accountable for infrastructure costs. The Board of County Supervisors has already rejected some proposed routes, leading to a delay and refinement of plans.
Residents of western Prince William County, Virginia, rallied outside Patriot High School in Nokesville to protest Dominion Energy's planned Nokesville-to-Bristow 230-kilovolt power line. The 6.5-mile transmission line, slated for submission to the State Corporation Commission after fall, is intended to support the region's expanding data center industry.
The protest, which included local farmers with tractors, highlighted concerns over the line's impact on property values, health, and the rural landscape. Brian and Janet Wickham, owners of Kettle Creek Farm, stated the overhead line would directly infringe on their property, reducing its value by hundreds of thousands of dollars and raising health concerns for their animals. Residents advocated for burying the lines, but Dominion spokesperson Aisha Khan cited high costs, extended construction time, and space constraints as obstacles to undergrounding the route. Khan noted that routes were refined following the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors' July 14 rejection of proposed Routes 5 and 12.
Elected officials, including Chair Deshundra Jefferson, Gainesville Supervisor George Stewart, Brentsville Supervisor Tom Gordy, State Sens. Danica Roem and Jeremy McPike, and Del. Elizabeth Guzman, spoke at the rally. They criticized Dominion Energy and called for greater accountability from data centers, demanding that the industry bear its fair share of infrastructure costs. Del. Guzman specifically stated, "We are starting the process to hold data centers accountable and to make them pay their fair share." Elena Schlossberg, executive director of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, characterized the community as "sacrificial lambs" for the data center industry.
State Sen. McPike also voiced concerns about Dominion's pending merger with NextEra and its potential impact on community responsiveness. While acknowledging recent state-level efforts to ensure data centers contribute to generation costs, he emphasized the need for them to also cover transmission-side expenses, including undergrounding lines to minimize impact on local communities and farms.