Opposition to a proposed Dominion Energy power line remains high in Stafford County, where this week survey results were released and state lawmakers made their thoughts clear at a town hall meeting.
The North Anna to Bristers electric-transmission project — formerly known as the Kraken Loop — has been unpopular since being proposed last year, and public response to it didn’t seem to warm at meetings Tuesday and Thursday.
The project entails building a 70-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line through Louisa, Spotsylvania, Caroline, Stafford and Fauquier counties. The line would connect the existing North Anna substation to the proposed Thornburg substation in Caroline and continue through Stafford into Fauquier.
Dominion officials now say the project will include installing a 230-kilovolt circuit on the same structures. The circuit would be constructed as part of the project but would not be energized initially, according to the utility company, allowing the line to support future energy demands while minimizing the need for additional construction later.
Stafford’s Board of Supervisors has already expressed a desire to have the power line buried, if it’s built, and County Attorney Rysheda McClendon told the supervisors on Tuesday that 93% of respondents to a recent survey said they have a very or somewhat unfavorable opinion of the project.
Nearly 80%, however, said their opinion would improve if the power lines were buried, McClendon said.
“The second-most prominent opposition related to property values and financial impacts, with the fear that home values would be reduced, resell options would be limited and there would be permanent financial loss tied to overhead lines,” the county attorney said. “And this was about 65 to 70% of respondents.”
Press the Issue
Dominion Energy will hold another in-person meeting on its North Anna to Bristers electric-transmission project Monday, from 3:30-7:30 p.m., at the Hampton Inn & Conference Center, 2965 Richmond Highway, Stafford, VA 22554
Other concerns were about quality of life, chronic noise, stress and uncertainty about long-term safety, McClendon said.
“So seeing that there’s substantial opposition to the project is important to understand the future opportunities for engagement,” she told the supervisors.
The survey was opened in conjunction with a March 5 community meeting the county held and was available for two weeks later, McClendon said. A total of 465 survey responses were gathered.
Dominion hasn’t yet submitted an application for the project to the State Corporation Commission (SCC), which has the final say. That should happen in the third quarter of this year.
Dominion anticipates an SCC decision by the second quarter of 2027, said McClendon, and, if approved, work would start in the first quarter of 2028 and be done by December 2030.
Town hall meeting
Two days after the supervisors’ meeting, Del. Stacey Carroll, a Democrat who represents part of Stafford, held a town hall meeting with two of her colleagues and Dominion officials.
The meeting drew about 320 people, partially filling the parking lot and auditorium at Colonial Forge High School.
The format of the gathering didn’t call for audience questions, but Carroll and fellow Democratic Dels. Joshua Cole and Margaret Franklin, whose districts also include parts of Stafford, brought up many of the concerns McClendon mentioned Tuesday.
Dominion officials, as they have said before, on Thursday disputed the notion that power lines cause property values to tank or spur health problems. They also emphasized that the general area they’re looking to build in follows easements that were acquired beginning in 1965.
Franklin said she would like alternative routes to be considered.
“But, and however,” she said, “if for whatever reason, the proposed route was moved forward, I would like to have a conversation now about undergrounding and what does that look like?”
That comment drew lots of applause from the crowd, which included at least two Stafford School Board members, at least two county supervisors and at least one planning commissioner.
Franklin, who also represents part of Prince William County, said some undergrounding has been done in that locality, “and the siting looks better.”
As they have stipulated before, the Dominion executives stressed that burying lines would tremendously inflate the cost of the project.
Before ending the meeting, Carroll pointed out that the power line issue isn’t one that falls along typical political party lines.
“I know this is a very near-and-dear topic to us all,” she said. “This is not a ‘D’ or ‘R’ issue. This is a Stafford County issue, and we need to be unified as to how we take care of our houses, our neighbors, our children and move forward.”
Cole encouraged the company representatives to take to heart the frustrations and anxieties of Stafford residents who would be affected by the power line.
“And so, as we’re making these decisions today, I just hope and I pray that you are not living comfortably in the areas that there are no power lines,” he said.
