CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Eight of the nine counties potentially impacted by Valley Link’s planned Virginia transmission line, including five in central Virginia, have joined a coalition to oppose the project.

This past week, Buckingham County’s Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to become the latest member of that group fighting back against the planned Dominion Energy, FirstEnergy Transmission, and Transource Energy collaborative project. Buckingham committed $250,000 to the effort.

“I don’t play patty-cake with bullies like Dominion Energy and Valley Link,” said Buckingham County pesticide-free flower farmer Amy Crawford during the meeting. “I refuse to accept that this transmission line is inevitable, because it isn’t.”

The project would create about 115 miles of 765-kilovolt electric transmission lines connecting a proposed new substation in Culpeper County to an expanded substation in Campbell County, according to a Valley Link spokesperson. The goal is to meet regional power needs in the future, but many in the impacted area have voiced concerns.

The map Valley Link is considering for the Joshua Falls to Yeat project would construct lines starting in Campbell County and traveling northeast through Appomattox County, Buckingham County, Fluvanna County, Goochland County, Louisa County, Spotsylvania County, and Orange County, before ending in Culpeper County.

The line’s route avoids Albemarle County, where 26.2% of the county’s rural land is designated as environmental easement, according to an Albemarle spokesperson.

On May 1, Fluvanna, Louisa, Orange, Goochland, and Culpeper counties made a joint filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking, according to a release by Fluvanna, “to put the five Counties into the case as parties so we have a seat at the table and the right to be heard.”

The filing also asks FERC to do three specific things, according to the release – “Recognize Virginia counties as siting authorities where state law gives us that role, to require developers to notify and give host localities 30 days to comment before their applications are deemed complete, and require PJM to publish, after each annual application window, a summary of where the new generation is being proposed and what transmission it will require.”

Fluvanna, Louisa, Orange, Goochland and Culpeper counties who banded together for the FERC filing are joined by Appomattox, Spotsylvania, and most recent opponent Buckingham in the opposition.

Culpeper’s opposition could prove pivotal because its supervisors must approve the construction of a new substation for the current Valley Link route to be feasible.

Campbell, where the southern substation would be, is the only county that has not expressed opposition.

“This isn’t easy, this is a long fight, this board is in it, there are other boards that are in it, most of those counties are in it, and you’ll be hearing more about the overall strategy as the region comes together,” Louisa County Board Chairman Duane Adams said during an April 27.

The opposition is to potential health risks of high-intensity power lines, and the intrusions upon farms and the rural landscape.

Cindy Oliver turned out to the Buckingham board meeting as owner of a 7-generation farm of 138 years on Well Water Rd. near Scottsville.

“It has taken us nearly 40 years to put all of our shares back together, thousands of hours and dollars, to have our 1800s home on stilts for two years among many renovations to save the farm, including the timber and fields,” she tearfully told the board. “Valley Link/Dominion is crossing the middle of our farm right in front of our house, through our favorite hayfield, down to the end of our watershed and wetlands.”

In Fluvanna, Cunningham District Supervisor Chris Fairchild expressed his apprehensions about potential health hazards.

“During some earlier hearings a couple of weeks ago, a resident told me who lives near the high lines that are coming through Slaughter’s Ford that there are times he has to brace himself to touch his trailer when he’s loading it up to go to work in the morning because he’s going to get shocked by it,” Fairchild said. “That has to be having an effect on people who lives near that.”

Goochland County has a dedicated page on its website for this project.

According to the page, “Transmission line projects are considered for approval by the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) after project developers gain input from the public.   The County encourages citizens to participate in public meetings and other opportunities to provide input, both to the project’s developers and the Virginia SCC.  More information, including an interactive mapping tool, is available on the project website.”

The counties aren’t only working together, but are also working ordinances through the Planning Commissions and Board of Supervisors to make the project harder to approve.