Jared Smith isn’t the first person to come to a Stafford County School Board meeting dressed in costume.
But he may be the first person to come dressed as a kraken, the mythical, octopus-like creature of Norse lore.
Smith, however, didn’t come to celebrate the kraken so much as to criticize it.
The kraken in question is Dominion Energy’s proposed North Anna-Kraken Loop project, a 70-mile, 500-kilovolt power line that would go through Stafford, Louisa, Spotsylvania, Caroline and Fauquier counties. It aims to connect the existing North Anna Substation to the proposed Kraken Substation in Caroline and ultimately tie into the proposed Yeat Substation in Fauquier.
The transmission line, previously just called the “Kraken Loop,” would come near five Stafford schools and the proposed site of another in the Embrey Mill neighborhood, and Smith asked the school board Tuesday night to investigate whether the electricity infrastructure would harm students.
“Do your homework,” he said. “Look at the health effects. Look at the sound effects. Look at the … all the different risks involved, and then decide: Is that what we want for Stafford County?”
Smith wasn’t alone. He was one of a handful of Stafford residents and school board members to voice concerns about the proposed power line at meetings on Tuesday.
Karen Mathes spoke before Smith. She also said she was worried about student safety around the potential power line, and that she believed it was being constructed for the benefit of a data center, a facility that houses computer systems used for data storage and processing.
“Please act now to oppose the current route and assure these lines are rerouted around, and not over, our schools,” Mathes said to school board members.
Earlier Tuesday, the school board met with Andre May, Dominion’s external affairs representative for Stafford, during a work session.
May told school board members that Dominion needs to build the North Anna-Kraken line to keep up with increasing demand for electricity in the company’s service area.
But some on the school board had significant anxiety about the project as proposed. Board member Alyssa Halstead, for example, didn’t mince words.
“Like this, to me, this is awful,” said Halstead, who represents the Hartwood District.
Board Vice Chairwoman Maya Guy said Stafford residents don’t want the power line in their community. But she expressed concern that it could be built anyway, assuming the State Corporation Commission, which has the final say, approves Dominion’s plans.
“This is not what we want,” she said, “but this is what we’re about to get.”
May, though, was undeterred by the negative reception.
“But, even with that said, OK, that’s why I’m here,” he said, “so that we can work together to make it as amenable to the community as possible.”
“And I’m just telling you, respectfully, it won’t be amenable,” responded Guy, who will move to a seat on the Board of Supervisors next month. “It’ll just be what you’re going to give us. OK?”
School board members didn’t take any action on the power line on Tuesday, but a week before, the supervisors did.
They voted unanimously in favor of a resolution asking Dominion to bury the power line and agreed on other measures, including asking county government staff for more information on what they can do about the proposal, planning a town hall meeting on the issue after the new year and hiring outside legal counsel to advise the county on the matter.
