WASHINGTON — Dozens of protestors wearing “Fight The Powerline!” T-shirts turned up at an open house Wednesday night where Dominion Virginia Power was showing off plans for a new transmission line in Prince William County.
The project includes a 6-mile-long, 230,000-volt line that would go through parts of Gainesville and Haymarket, and a new substation to be built just west of Haymarket’s town limits.
Wednesday’s open house at Battlefield High School in Haymarket was organized by Dominion to both explain the project to residents and get their feedback.
Well after the event got underway, more than 100 protestors entered the school all at once, chanting, “Power Lines No, Dominion Must Go!”
The chanting ended when police officers inside told them not to use a bullhorn and to protest peacefully.
Dominion’s Chuck Penn says the new transmission line and substation are needed to meet the growing demand for power in the county.
“2017 is when our projections are that the demand will outstrip capacity,” he said.
Another reason the lines are needed is to serve a single, key Dominion customer.
A confidentiality agreement prevents that customer from being revealed.
“I’m not at liberty to disclose who the customer is,” Penn said. “But we do have a customer that’s going to significantly increase the load as we call it, or demand for electricity.”
The current proposed route of the transmission line would take it through the Somerset Crossing neighborhood in Gainesville, although Dominion is exploring alternative routes, and the final route will be determined by the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC).
“Where they want to go through with these power lines is a protected wetland. We have at least five endangered species back there,” President of the Somerset Crossing Homeowners Association Jim Napoli said.
“We do not want their power lines running through our backyard. We do not want their power lines harming our children and harming our property values,” he added.
Regarding the safety concerns Napoli raises, Penn says there is no conclusive evidence linking electric and magnetic fields from power lines to health problems.
“We often say that you’re likely to get more [electric and magnetic fields] from your hairdryer than you are from our transmission lines,” Penn said.
The project is in its very early stages, and the next step is for Dominion to file an application with the SCC which it plans to do before the end of this year.
If Dominion gets the green light, it hopes to begin construction in early 2016 and put the new lines to use by spring of 2017.
Get more information about the project from Dominion and the “Fight The Powerline” Facebook page set up by residents who oppose the project.
Follow @WTOP on Twitter and on the WTOP Facebook page.
