Dear PJM: Please Don’t Run Power Lines Through Western Loudoun!

By Caleb Kershner, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Catoctin District Supervisor

A proposal is being floated to run high-voltage power lines through the middle of western Loudoun. This would be a terrible blow to our rural west, especially to the farms and residents that it would run past. That’s why I oppose this proposal, and why I hope you’ll oppose it as well.

Proposal 2022-W3-853 comes from PJM, a regional transmission organization (RTO) that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity, through 13 states including Virginia, and the District of Columbia. They are seeing a growing demand for electricity, a wave of power plants being retired, and a growing number of new power sources getting connected to the grid. In response to this changing demand and supply, they are looking at options to expand our region’s network of transmission lines, including here in Loudoun County.

Most of the options on the table would extend power lines along existing rights-of-way, which makes much more sense. But Proposal 2022-W3-853 would run new power lines directly through the middle of the rural west. These overhead lines would have to cut through existing farms. They would divide Loudoun’s wine country in half. And they would seriously impair the beautiful rural viewshed that we have so carefully preserved.

Here in the rural west, we’ve learned to work carefully with our infrastructure projects. Every time we fix something, we have to make sure that we also preserve the rural landscape and character. When we expand our broadband access, we carefully run the fiber along many of the existing paths and poles. When we widen Route 15, we make sure the new design fits the rural setting. It’s a commonsense approach that has allowed us to fix real problems while still keeping our rural lands alive and well. Unfortunately, this proposal by PJM would toss that commonsense approach aside and do serious damage to our rural lands.

High-voltage power lines aren’t regulated by Loudoun’s Board of Supervisors. Instead, PJM discusses their plans internally, with their own Board of Managers, and then takes them straight to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) for approval. If the SCC signs off on this damaging proposal, there’s nothing Loudoun can do to stop it.

The PJM’s Board of Managers meets again on December 11, 2023.  Now is the time to write to them (e-mail: custsvc@pjm.com) and ask them to abandon Proposal 2022-W3-853. I’ve already written to them and explained just how bad this would be for our agricultural industry, our rural villages, and our residents. Now I’m asking you to do the same thing. Tell them how these power lines would affect you, your neighbors, and the rural lands that we cherish. There is no time to waste.