Private Meeting with Van Metre and Dominion protects property value of select few
This past week Dominion Energy visited a group of homeowners within and alongside the “northern route”. Dominion confirmed to the group that the sole purpose of this transmission line is to energize the Amazon Web Service (AWS) Data Center, and if the AWS data center is not built this application to the SCC vaporizes. Dominion has received a “load letter” from Amazon and they are legally required to provide the energy necessary by the load letter. Only one route is required to fulfill Dominion’s legal requirement. They can run a line from the Warrenton substation or run a line from the next closest substation-- Wheeler substation in Prince William County. The Amazon load letter will be part of the Dominion SCC application and until that application is submitted, they are bound by a non-disclosure agreement with Amazon to not release the load letter.
The “northern route” proposed by Dominion, running overhead lines from the Wheeler substation in Prince William County through Vint Hill, New Baltimore, Fosters Fork, Airlie Rd./Chestnut Forks and into The Town of Warrenton to the Amazon data center substation on Blackwell Rd was not in Dominions initial planning. If you look at Dominions map https://cdn-dominionenergy-prd-001.azureedge.net/.../figu... you see a route labeled “Considered But Rejected” that runs to the south and west of Warrenton. So why was this route rejected by Dominion? In last week’s meeting Dominion was pressed on this topic. What was learned was surprising to everyone in the room.
Before study areas and route plans were made public by Dominion Energy and before the northern route was added, select groups of stakeholders had early access to Dominion planning.
In the community meeting on 6/9/2022, Dominion admitted that after seeing Van Metre Companies subdivision development plans for property within that “Considered but Rejected” route, a decision was made to drop that route to protect the property value and sell-ability of that developer/builder and add the northern routes.
Shocked is an understatement of how the participants in this meeting reacted to this insight. This led to lots of questions and comment. The homeowner group responded to Dominion “that because the criteria used to reject the said route was its adverse impact to future homes, it only makes sense that the northern above ground, which impacts hundreds of existing homes and is a much longer route, should be rejected immediately, and leaves us wondering why it was ever proposed”.
How can a commercial business force a route to be dropped? If a developer/builder is given this special privilege, why is it other owners/stakeholders are not granted this? Who made the decision to drop this route? If a developer/builder is concerned about property value or sell-ability of yet to be built new homes and Dominion changes their plan to accommodate, that becomes prima-facie evidence that in fact above ground power lines negatively affect property values and sell-ability.
Will Dominion Energy add this routing back into their planning and submission to the SCC? Don’t know, the group asked them to. Will the Warrenton Town Council or the Fauquier Board of Supervisors require insist this route be added into the SCC submission? Hope so.
Regardless of the route, Dominion Energy needs a solution to energize the massive AWS data center if the Warrenton Town Council approves the Special Use Permit. Dominion has heard it from many, including our Fauquier Board of Supervisors, the only acceptable solution is to go underground.