Coalition to Protect Prince William County
PO Box 382 | Haymarket, VA 20168 www.protectpwc.org
PRESS RELEASE
Looking for Clarity in the Chaos – Don’t Let Dominion Redefine the Issues at Stake
Executive Director says: “Community’s goal is clear – I-66 and buried. Distraction and deception don’t change that.”
Haymarket, Virginia (August 18, 2017) – After two trying and sometimes tragic weeks, the Coalition to Protect Prince William County urges citizens, organizations, and elected officials to stay focused on the goal of keeping Dominion Power’s speculative project away from private property and protected areas.
Coalition executive director Elena Schlossberg stated, “Supporters may understandably worry that chaos in our county and Commonwealth have changed our objectives. Our goal remains what it has always been: I-66 and buried. And only if the need is proven. Neither tragedy nor Dominion’s distraction and deception change that.”
“Dominion desperately want to blame someone – anyone – else for putting Carver Road residents at risk,” Schlossberg continued. “But that’s flat out wrong. Only Dominion or the State Corporation Commission (SCC) can propose a route alternative. And Dominion proposed Carver Road as an alternative on their own – along with as many as eight alternatives across three counties. We all remain at risk, and only Dominion has put us there.”
Schlossberg made it clear that, “Dominion is equally desperate to buttress their imploding argument that the powerline is needed at all. Their most recent response to the SCC derides the Coalition and others by name, recycling old data – and ignoring the fact that Amazon’s legal representation admitted on the record they are not sure when or if the power will be needed. Delegate Bob Marshall said it best in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: ‘[Dominion] should be ashamed of themselves for the omissions, misrepresentations and contrivances.’”
“As for Amazon, the new “Danger – Protected by Guard Dogs” sign at the Haymarket site shows how they feel about community involvement,” Schlossberg added, noting, “Jeff Bezos should give the same respect for our property that he seeks for his own – and not string his extension cord overhead and literally ‘sic the dogs’ on us.”
Schlossberg also dismissed Dominion’s efforts in the Washington Post and other local media to make this issue about a single politician. “Besides Delegate Marshall, all local elected officials and community members should be offended that Dominion has attempted to rewrite the plot, and cut the cast. How dare they try to marginalize and minimize the thousands who have fought on nights, weekends, and holidays to stop their above-ground routes and use of rate payer dollars to underwrite a textbook case of private speculative investment. Or individuals like Brentsville Supervisor Jeanine Lawson, who largely inherited this fight and has not wavered in her full-time defense of residents and the authority of the County to make development and infrastructure decisions.”
Schlossberg concluded, “Regarding the tragic events in Charlottesville, the Coalition joins all who condemn the use of physical intimidation and threats. Some of us have personal experience facing such tactics. We doubly condemn the use of violence – no one should have to fear for their safety, or life, for expressing a point of view. Violence has no place in civil discourse, nor does silence in the aftermath.”
