PW County Residents Protest Planned Dominion Power Line

More than a hundred protesters flooded into Battlefield High School in Haymarket Wednesday night during an open house in which Dominion Virginia Power was showing off plans for its proposed transmission line.

Dozens of protesters wearing “Fight the Powerline” T-shirts chanted “Power Lines No, Dominion Must Go” before being told by police to protest peacefully, WTOP reports.

The open house was intended to solicit feedback from residents about Dominion’s proposed 230,000-volt power line. The line would for 6 miles along I-66 in Gainesville, Haymarket and a new substation that is slated to be built just west of Haymarket’s town limits.

The final route will be set by the Virginia State Corporation Commission once Dominion files an application with the SCC by the end of 2014. Dominion anticipates construction will begin in early 2016 and the line should be functional by early 2017.

The line is intended both to meet anticipated electricity needs over the next four years and to serve a single, unnamed Dominion customer.

Those who oppose the line say it would cut through protected wetlands and reduce their neighborhoods’ property values. The proposed route also passes through the Somerset Crossing neighborhood in Gainesville.

Image: Courtesy Fight the Power Line (Source: Facebook)