More than 300 people showed up at the small community center in Fluvanna to learn about the Valley Link project after they got letters about the proposed power line. They packed into a large room where company experts manned a series of tables set-up to address various concerns.
Outside, residents waited in line for admission and shared their concerns with RadioIQ:
“We need to show and push back. They can’t just waltz into town and take everything by eminent domain. This is our county.”
“We didn’t move to Fluvanna County and buy property here to have it be torn up and ruined.”
“I’m a mom, and I’m really worried about my kids growing up in this county. Projects like this are associated with higher risks of childhood cancer.”
“It brings down property values.”
“If you don’t sell them your property, they can take it from you. That’s not right.”
“There are better ways to run it – shorter lines and more direct, but it might cost them a little bit more money, and I think these billion-dollar companies came down to Fluvanna County because they thought they could get it cheaper and not have to worry about so much opposition.”
“Ditto!”
Many were upset by some logistical problems with the meeting itself.
“Our letter said 5:30 today, and we received the letter today”
“They said 5:30 to 7:30 on the letters they sent out and 3:30 7:30 on the website, so you didn’t know when to come.”
“We thought this was going to be an actual sit down meeting, but apparently it’s not, so that’s disappointing.”
“We’re curious whether it will actually come to our house. I would like to see a more blown- up view of that map they sent us.”
That problem aside, Dominion spokesman Craig Carper was ready to respond to local reporters about issues raised by the public.
“We want to share whatever they want to know about, but also we really want feedback.”
He said the original plan was to install the high-voltage line for more than 150 miles, running through 16 counties but had scaled back to 115 miles and just nine counties: Appomattox, Buckingham, Campbell, Culpeper, Fluvanna, Goochland, Louisa, Orange and Spotsylvania. Three possible routes were chosen.
The goal, Carper adds, is to avoid densely populated areas, schools, pristine natural or historic places while limiting river and stream crossings.
“We’re trying our best to juggle all of those things and thread the needle -- to ultimately have a project that meets the demand but minimizes impact whenever possible.”
He conceded demand for electricity was fairly flat until data centers came along but pointed to new industrial development in the state.
“Lego, Lily, other biotech coming to Virginia.”
He also cited climate change in claiming demand for power has increased.
“We’re having colder winters and hotter summers.”
And he insisted electromagnetic energy coming from power lines does not pose a threat to human health.
“There’s decades of data on this, and we haven’t seen any causality.”
The World Health Organization classifies extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans based on limited evidence showing an association with childhood leukemia. The International Agency for Research on Cancer found “inadequate evidence” in relation to all other cancers.
The utilities have looked at building along major highways, but Carper says that was a no-go.
“That has come up, and it’s been looked at thoroughly, and there were a lot of restrictions that prevented us from doing that.”
But could this line be buried?
“It hasn’t been done," Carper says. "The technology does not exist.”
The companies expect to file the Valley Link request with the State Corporation Commission in September and hope to have sign-off one year later, followed by two years of construction.
Dominion will host community meetings on March 23 at 5:30 in Goochland's Central High Cultural and Education Complex and at the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance — 300 Lucado Place.
On March 24 it has scheduled a community meeting from 11 am - 1 pm and from 5:30-7:30 at the Buckingham County Community Center in Dillwyn.
