We’re now back to the I-66 overhead Haymarket powerline route

It’s back to to the overhead route for Dominion’s Haymarket Powerline. 

The utility abandoned its plan to build along the controversial Carver Road route, which would have seen a power line built where some of Virginia’s first freed slaves made their home after the Civil War. 

From Dominion: 

“Through this filing, we are updating the Commission that the construction of the Carver Road route is not possible given Prince William County’s denial of needed easements. Because Carver Road, the Commission’s approved route, is not constructible, we are asking the SCC to amend its Final Order and approve construction of the Haymarket Transmission Line Project via the I-66 Overhead Route.”

The company asked for an additional 60 days to work with Prince William County officials to obtain easements to properties along the Carver Road route to build the new line to power a series of new Amazon data centers in Haymarket. It didn’t get the permissions. 

“We had asked for and were granted 60 days in which to secure permission from Prince William BOCS to gain access to easements we need to construct the Carver Road Route. The Commission had previously directed the Company to build the Carver Road Route, but the Commission also recognized that the County had the authority to deny the needed easements, thereby blocking the route. The Company is now apprizing the Commission of the County’s denial of the easements and requesting that the Commission grant the Company the authority to build along the I-66 Overhead Route, the company’s preferred route in our November 2015 application.”

From Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman, At-large Corey Stewart: 

“The Board and I were never going to allow corporate bully Dominion to uproot Carver Road families, many of whom have been there for over a century as descendants of slaves who acquired the land under federal law in the 1860s.  

We will continue to fight to keep our commitment to protect communities in Prince William County like Hopewell Landing, Somerhill, Somerset Crossing, Carver Road, and the Town of Haymarket. The Board and I along with the community have been unified since the beginning that no route except the I-66 Hybrid route would be acceptable. We will not back down.”