Goochland Residents Push Back Against Proposed Valley Link Transmission Line

Hundreds of Goochland County residents packed a March 23 open house at the Central High Cultural and Education Complex on Dogtown Road to confront the companies behind Valley Link, a proposed 115-mile, 765-kilovolt transmission line that could carve a 200-foot corridor through the western edge of the county on its way to serving Northern Virginia's booming data center industry.

PJM, which manages energy for 13 states, has given the go-ahead for Dominion Energy, in partnership with Transource and FirstEnergy, to build the 765 kV transmission line, which would be able to carry as much as 6,600 megawatts of power. The project would become the largest transmission line in Dominion's territory, helping move more power from the Ohio Valley to the eastern portion of PJM, particularly Northern Virginia, where the data center industry and other energy demands have surged in recent years.

The joint venture between Dominion Energy, FirstEnergy, and Transource is intended to transmit electricity from Joshua Falls in Campbell County to the Yeat substation in Culpeper County, with a couple of route corridor scenarios that may route the project through Goochland in the western part of the county in District 1. The project would require clearing a 200-foot corridor along the entire route, much of which cuts through forested and agricultural areas.

The project remains in the early stages of planning and permitting, but the companies anticipate a 2029 completion date for the estimated $1 billion project. Valley Link plans to return in June with updates based on community input and expects to select a preferred route in September to present to the State Corporation Commission. The review process is expected to take about a year before regulators make a final decision.

Transmission line projects are considered for approval by the Virginia State Corporation Commission after project developers gain input from the public, and Goochland County does not have a role in the project's routing or permitting. That jurisdictional limitation has not quieted local anger. Residents across Campbell, Appomattox, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Louisa, Orange, Goochland, Spotsylvania, and Culpeper counties have been turning out in large numbers for public hearings and informational meetings.

The opposition has already produced formal action in neighboring counties. The Louisa County Board of Supervisors passed an official resolution opposing the project's route through the mostly rural county, where two of the potential routes run directly. The resolution stated that the 160-foot metal structures for the line would "cause significant and irreparable harm to Louisa County's rural character, agricultural heritage, and forestlands."

Louisa Board Chairman Duane Adams said he sees no benefit to his county from the 765 kV lines. "It's also interesting to me that while Northern Virginia counties get the economic impact, it seems to be the expectation that central and south side Virginia will be the ones to provide the power," Adams said. Adams sent a letter to leaders in all affected counties inviting them to Louisa for a summit in April aimed at unifying their messaging, writing that "by working together as a group, we can have a greater impact on the outcome of this project."

In Fluvanna County, where roughly 515 residents gathered at the Fluvanna Community Center on March 10, Supervisor Mike Goad introduced a motion carried unanimously to have the county attorney draft a resolution in opposition and reach out to other counties to float the idea of a joint resolution. "That sort of bands the counties together and says hey, these are some of the concerns that we have as a region, and how this impacts our rural region," Goad said.

Valley Link says it wants to form relationships with landowners through voluntary easements and "fair market value" compensation but, as a last resort, will work to obtain land through eminent domain. That prospect has alarmed property owners across the affected corridor. In Fluvanna, Seven Islands Farm owner Victor Sorrell put it plainly: "This project is coming right through my farm. The reality is, they're going to possibly condemn my land and put a right-of-way there through eminent domain."

Valley Link spokesman Craig Carper defended the project's rationale. "PJM identified where there is unmet load demand and this project was identified through that process," Carper said. The goal, Carper added, 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."

Dominion customers will be responsible for a portion of the project's cost, with PJM determining how expenses are allocated among participating utilities. Dominion estimates the project will cost about $1 billion, distributed among ratepayers across PJM's 13-state territory, with Dominion's own customers expected to pay approximately 10% of the total cost.

The April summit in Louisa, if it draws supervisors from all nine affected counties, could mark the most coordinated pushback yet against a project that the companies have spent months framing as essential to the state's grid. For Goochland's District 1 landowners in the western part of the county, the outcome of that summit and the subsequent SCC proceeding will determine whether the transmission towers come to them.