Case and hearings

Says Dominion "failed to perform a site-specific evaluation of visual mitigation measures anywhere along the 15.8-mile project corridor," used only five photo simulations for the whole line, and relied on wide-angle panoramas that make the poles look smaller than they will be.

Supports residents' requests for simulations from where people actually live.

Westminster-Canterbury, home to more than 450 residents, asks to keep today's pole heights and right-of-way. If the SCC finds an upgrade or expansion necessary, it asks that at least the stretch from the Charlottesville Substation to where Route 250 enters a more rural area go underground.

A formal party asking for targeted undergrounding through Pantops.

Agrees Dominion showed a need to rebuild with a larger single circuit, but says it has not shown a need for the second circuit that drives the taller, double-circuit towers. He also recommends rechecking whether even that single-circuit upgrade is still needed, since other significant transmission upgrades have been approved.

If the second circuit isn't needed now, lower-impact designs become easier to justify.

Says Dominion's undergrounding memo was "not developed as a certifiable project alternative," that its $1.5 billion figure is a screening-level estimate with a stated accuracy of minus 50% to plus 200%, priced in 2030 dollars against a $97 million overhead figure in 2025 dollars, and that burying the line would take about two years of design and permitting plus 12 to 18 months of construction.

Directly disputes Dominion's cost and time reasons for rejecting undergrounding.

Dominion must file information in its rebuttal testimony on how the project's cost would change if it lacks enough land rights in the existing corridor, and supplement other answers within five business days. The Hearing Examiner noted that Dominion had said it was preparing related cost information, "but no such information has been provided."

More cost numbers should be on the record before the evidentiary hearing.

Dominion must supplement its discovery answer with any additional current reasons, beyond those it has already given, for not considering other projects or routes. Most of Keswick's other requests were denied - including those about the extent of Dominion's land rights, which the Hearing Examiner said is a question for the circuit court, not the SCC.

Keeps the question of alternatives in front of the SCC.

Dominion certified that it mailed the July 21 notice and route map to property owners along the corridor and published it in local newspapers.

Didn't get the mailer? You can still take part fully - and it's worth saying so in your public comment.

The Pantops retirement community, serving more than 470 seniors, joined the case with its own lawyers. Its property borders the corridor, and it says taller lines would affect residents' daily lives and how it can use its land.