From: Powerline [mailto:Powerline@dominionenergy.com]
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2017 4:02 PM
Subject: Haymarket Update: Letter to Carver Road Route Property Owners
The below letter is being sent via U.S. Postal Service to property owners along the Carver Road Route:
Thank you,
Greg Mathe
Manager, Electric Transmission Communications
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Dear Carver Road area resident,
We, like you, are extremely frustrated about the place we find ourselves today. The Carver Road Route was never our preference to site the Haymarket transmission line, and it’s still not our preference. We wouldn’t be talking about this transmission project, let alone a transmission line route, if it were not for the economic development that occurred under the Prince William Board of County Supervisors’ watch. However, the reality is, there are increased power demands in your area and Dominion Energy Virginia is obligated to meet them.
First, we would be remiss if we did not address the false information about Dominion Energy forcing people off their land or taking their property. This is not and has never been our plan.
You will soon hear that we will be formally requesting the necessary approvals needed from the County to construct the Carver Road Route. As a regulated business, we have no choice but to adhere to the decision of our regulators – even when that decision was not their preferred solution – and even if we disagree with the ultimate outcome – as is the case here. Therefore, we must proceed with preparation for the Carver Road Route, which is why you received a survey request letter a few weeks ago. However, based on the Board of Supervisors’ June 1, 2017 resolution and many of their public statements, we expect the County to reject our requests related to the Carver Road Route.
For these reasons, we have asked the SCC to pause the current proceeding until we receive a formal response from the County, and will likely ask the SCC to consider other routes in the case. Again, we emphasize that the Carver Road option was by no means our preferred route, but we are obligated to carry out the mandates of the Commission.
When we filed our application with the SCC in 2016, our preference was the I-66 Overhead Route, knowing that the SCC would likely never approve the so-called Hybrid Route partly because of the sheer cost of the project ($167 million), which would unreasonably raise the monthly energy bills for every Dominion Energy Virginia customer.
Please know that the reason Carver Road has been designated by the SCC as the approved route has absolutely nothing to do with race, ethnicity, income or anything of the sort. The reason Carver Road residents and others have to endure the prospect of the line coming through their community is because of the actions by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors – the very officials who are presenting themselves as being “supportive” of the Carver Road community. There was and is a less impactful route. However, the County has and continues to stonewall compromise at the determent of the community’s energy needs.
The Carver Road Route was a direct result to find overhead alternatives to the Railroad Route when a portion of land was placed into an open space easement held by the County. It was never intended to be a preferred route and was ill-favored in our application compared to the I-66 Overhead Route and to the Railroad Route if not for the open space easement. In fact, from the beginning, our focus was the Railroad Route. While we recognize that some residents living along the Railroad Route would not be happy about some tree clearing, the power lines and structures would have been far from homes, largely obscured on both sides and parallel with railroad tracks, something encouraged by the SCC.
To provide you with some perspective, we introduced the need for this project to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors as early as 2013. Over the last three years, this project has been the focus of every major TV news station and newspaper in the D.C. metro region and Commonwealth, including The Washington Post, WTOP, NBC4, WUSA9, Fox5, ABC7 and WAMU. All of the Haymarket-Gainesville publications consistently reported on this project (Bull Run Observer, Gainesville Times, Haymarket Beat, Inside NOVA).
However, we are discovering that some people are just finding out about the project. We apologize if we didn’t reach everyone with our outreach but please know that, at a minimum, we sent out letters to all property owner addresses along the Carver Road Route on June 24, 2015 (enclosed). In fact, we sent out notification letters to 5,600 property owners – including Carver Road residents. On January 12, 2016, we sent legal notice letters to property owner addresses regarding the company’s filing with the SCC.
With every project, we investigate the potential environmental, cultural, historic and other impacts through state and county databases and other means. Unfortunately, in regards to this project, those efforts did not discover all the context of the neighborhoods along the proposed Carver Road Route that are now coming to light.
Community stewardship is a responsibility we take seriously. We seek the public’s input, in part, to better understand what the community values. Unfortunately, in this case, those efforts fell short. We must learn from this and continue to better our processes to seek out those that may feel voiceless and ensure they are heard.
Again, please accept our apologies for not getting out into your community sooner to convey these sincere sentiments to you face to face. We haven’t been able to reach everyone, but have talked with some property owners as of late. There is a good deal of misinformation circling around causing anxiety unnecessarily. It is important that we try to add context to the discourse. We are most certainly open to meeting with you and members of the community at your earliest convenience. Please contact Chuck Penn, Community Relations Manager, or me at 888-291-0190 or by emailing powerline@dominionenergy.com.
Thank you very much for your time and thoughtful consideration.
Sincerely,
Gregory E. Mathe
Electric Transmission Communications
Dominion Energy Virginia
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