No to big lattice towers through western Loudoun

Dear Editor:

Loudoun’s growing data center industry needs more power than the electric power utilities can provide with current infrastructure. As a result, the regional power industry consortium, PJM, is considering a package of proposals to expand the high voltage transmission line network (link to a 27 MB file) in order to bring additional power into Loudoun County.

Most of the proposals involve using or expanding existing rights-of-way, but one path (Project 853) involves a new right-of-way for a 510-kilovolt (kV) power line (big lattice towers like those near River Creek) that would cut diagonally through western Loudoun as well as navigating a complicated, winding path through the center of the county, including along Rt.7.

The exact path has not been determined at this point, but the western Loudoun agricultural zone and wine district would be bisected and many historic homes would be devalued by this massive power line.

PJM’s Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee on Dec. 5 will meet in Audubon, Pennsylvania to make the final selection of proposals to be considered on Dec.11 by the PJM Board.

After that, the energy company behind the proposal for Project 853, Florida-based NextEra, will finalize its proposed path for an application early next year to the Virginia regulator, the State Corporation Commission. The SCC will then go through its usual process and considerations to make a final decision as governed by Virginia legal code §56-46.1.

This whole process starts with Loudoun approving the building of more data centers than the regional infrastructure can support, but the final decision about the power line will be at the State level.

The Board of Supervisors are not without influence, and neither are you. First, get informed (register for the Town Hall in Hillsboro at 7 p.m. on Nov.30 sponsored by the Piedmont Environmental Council, the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, and the Waterford Foundation and see the projected full map from PEC) and spread the word to your neighbors.

Second, urge the County Board to weigh in (bos@loudoun.gov). Third, let PJM know (custsvc@pjm.com) before they meet on Dec. 5 that they should stick to existing rights-of-way, or else consider alternative methods as we ended up doing with the 230 kV line along the Leesburg Bypass and under the W&OD Trail, and not blast through the County’s second major economic pillar, the agriculture/tourism industry.

PJM is sensitive to public concerns. Finally, as this process proceeds, we will need to express our views to our recently elected representatives to the General Assembly and to the SCC directly. The SCC can override virtually all local zoning, but by law must “consider” environmental and economic factors. The sooner we weigh in, the better chance we have of influencing the final outcome.

Tom Donahue
Leesburg, VA