Loudoun homeowners battle Dominion Energy to save threatened property values

LOUDON COUNTY, Va. (7News) — Hundreds of Loudoun County homeowners are currently fighting proposed high-voltage transmission lines, that they say would significantly impact their homes’ property value.

Dominion Energy’s proposal cuts straight through heavily populated eastern Loudoun County, calling for two nine-mile-long transmission lines to link local substations.

According to Dominion Energy, the “Golden to Mars” project is necessary to secure reliable power for Northern Virginia and the surrounding region.

But homeowners, such as Vicky Hu, said they feel violated.

SEE ALSO | High voltage transmission line proposed in Spotsylvania, Orange, Culpeper gets pushback

“This is our forever home,” said Vicky.

Vicky is fighting to save her forever home.

“I came from Taiwan 30 years ago for my American dream,” she said. “I always tell people I never thought [I would be] fighting the power company for my life. I feel we’re being violated. We feel we’re being attacked by the power company.”

She got a call from Dominion Energy telling her the company wants to build a nearly 200 foot tall transmission line through her backyard.

“How much money is the company offering you to put a transmission line on your property?” 7News Reporter Nick Minock asked Vicky?

“Zero!” answered Vicky.

Vicky and fellow homeowners have asked for the transmission lines to be built underground, aiming to protect both their neighborhood views and their property values.

State regulators and Dominion Energy rejected the underground proposal over cost and feasibility concerns.

However, since the transmission lines are being built to fuel Loudoun County’s booming data center industry, Vicky argues those tech companies should pay the extra to bury the lines.

“We pay [to] underground [power lines] for our homes,” said Vicky.

SEE ALSO | Dominion Energy asks Loudoun County School Board to approve transmission lines by schools

Dominion Energy is also considering an alternative route that would string high-voltage lines directly over public school property. However, this option requires an easement from the Loudoun County School Board to move forward.

7News asked Loudoun County School Board member Amy Riccardi if she plans to vote for it.

“No, I’m not,” said Riccardi. “And I don’t know that the school board has an appetite for it.”

However, Greg Mathe, Director of Electric Transmission Engagement, Permitting & Land at Dominion Energy, said they are hopeful.

“The SCC has made all the relevant determines that the County and School Board have asked for in helping them make an informed decision in this matter and we are hopeful that the Loudoun School Board recognizes the important choice they have before them,” Greg Mathe, Dominion Energy’s director of electric transmission engagement, permitting and land, highlighted these challenges in an interview with 7News on Wednesday. “As we have been discussing this project with the public and the County for at least three years, our approach is always to avoid and limit impacts through our comprehensive routing approach. We are ready to begin the next phase of this must needed project on behalf of all our customers, given the immediate reliability needs of the grid.”

Riccardi said she doesn’t want high voltage transmission lines near kids, homes, or schools.

Furthermore, if the school board approves the easement for the “Golden to Mars” project, Riccardi said she fears Dominion Energy will keep asking for easements on school property for future projects in the county.

Riccardi added, Ashburn homeowners are being impacted by the threat of new transmission lines because the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has approved so many data centers.

SEE ALSO | Residents along path of proposed transmission line pushback on project in Culpeper

“They created the mess and now they’re leaving the school board to clean up this one,” said Riccardi. “I would really hope that the Board of Supervisors would kind of rethink this whole additional data center process and really think through a lot more about how we’re going to power these places.”

Vicky said with more data centers on the way, this could happen to anyone in Loudoun County and in neighboring counties.

“This is not a part of my American dream,” said Vicky.

Vicky wants the SCC and elected officials, including Governor Abigail Spanberger, to visit her house to understand how Virginia’s energy policies and data centers are impacting homeowners like her.

“We’ve been paying the taxes for over 25 years here,” said Vicky. “We want her to see what kind of impact this has in Ashburn.”

There are more than 200 data centers in Loudoun County and 100 more are on the way.

On Wednesday, 7News Reporter Nick Minock emailed all eight Loudoun County Supervisors and Chair Phyllis Randall two questions:

• How do you respond to the claim that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is to blame for the Golden to Mars project and the impacts on homeowners and the community because the board has approved so many data centers that need power/transmission lines?
• How do you respond to the claim that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is to blame for the Valley Link project (which is impacting neighboring counties) because the board has approved so many data centers that need power/transmission lines?

Loudoun County Supervisor Kristen Umstattd is the only board member who has responded to 7News’s questions so far.

Umstattd told 7News:

“Data centers don’t just pop up for no good reason. They are a product of the modern technological society we live in. They store data that is necessary for the internet, so when we do online shopping, emailing, texting, online banking, telemedicine, telecommuting, streaming movies or tv shows, video games, etc., we, as residents, generate the need for data centers. Loudoun’s data centers, in turn, generate over $1 billion a year in tax revenue to Loudoun County, providing over 100% of the County’s General Fund (excluding the public school system), and providing over 45% of the County’s total budget (including the public school system). They are the reason the County is able to put tens of millions of dollars into affordable housing programs and millions more into life-saving public services. They are the reason Loudoun County was able to reduce our vehicle tax by 26% and why the County has the lowest real estate tax rate in the region. Most of Loudoun’s data centers have been built in industrially and commercially zoned areas that allowed data centers by right, without the requirement of a vote by the Board of Supervisors.

Data centers aren’t the only reason we have transmission lines. There are two major interstate transmission line corridors in the Leesburg area that pre-date data centers. They were required because of rapid residential growth, not data centers. In fact, Loudoun County has 4 times as much land in housing as it does in data centers. So any kind of growth can result in the need for more transmission lines. Even if Loudoun had zero data centers, the existence of data centers anywhere along the 13-state electrical grid that Virginia (and Loudoun) is part of, could generate the need for more transmission lines through Loudoun. Transmission lines carry electricity from power plants to users. If you have a power plant in Pennsylvania and a city or a data center in Richmond, Virginia, North Carolina or Georgia, you may well see a transmission line running across Loudoun. Those transmission lines may serve data centers, but they also serve residential communities and small businesses. The only way to avoid building interstate transmission lines is to build power plants closer to neighborhoods or commercial properties. Those power plants could be powered by natural gas, acres of solar panels, windmills, or eventually, small modular nuclear reactors, but you would need to site power generation facilities closer to homes than is currently the case, if you wanted to avoid transmission lines. The growth of data centers is fueled by our society’s and our own growing reliance on the internet for almost every facet of our lives.”

When it comes to the Golden to Mars project, a Dominion Energy spokesperson told 7News, “Identified in 2022, the Golden to Mars project is a critical transmission infrastructure project needed to maintain electric reliability across Northern Virginia and the broader region. Regional transmission planning through PJM Interconnection, along with utility reliability studies and regulatory review, has identified the need for additional transmission capacity to support continued growth and ensure the electric system can reliably serve customers across the Commonwealth. The project will strengthen the regional transmission network and help ensure the long-term reliability and resilience of the electric grid serving homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, and other critical facilities. The next step is to see if the School Board will approve Route 4, and if not, whether it would approve Route 3 or 3B (which also cross school property and were consistent with the SCC’s rationale in selecting Route 4). If the School Board does not approve a route across school property, as noted, the SCC stated, it will order Route 3A to be built in a final order. Once a final route is approved, Dominion Energy will proceed with the necessary engineering, permitting and construction planning activities.”