The Louisa County Public Schools (LCPS) school board is the latest group — following the Louisa County Board of Supervisors (BoS) and the county’s Agricultural, Forestal, and Rural Preservation Committee — to formally state their opposition to the Valley Link Transmission Line Project at their June 2 meeting.

Louisa is one of eight other counties impacted by the 115-mile 765-kilovolt (kV) Joshua Falls to Yeat Transmission Line project that is planned to extend from Campbell to Culpeper County. The name of the project refers to the two endpoints, an existing electric substation in Campbell and a proposed new substation in Culpeper. Valley Link is a $1 billion joint venture between Dominion Energy, FirstEnergy Transmission and Transource with the stated goal to meet Virginia’s growing energy needs.

The resolution states that LCPS “must ensure the school property is safe, secure, and conducive to effective teaching and learning” and that the project is anticipated to traverse or be located in close proximity to one or more LCPS school properties.

In May, Valley Link released three revised routes along the 115-mile path, two of which, the western route (3) shown in pink and the eastern route (2) shown in blue, cut across Louisa County for roughly 20 miles. The blue route crosses Route 22 just west of the Louisa County High School and Middle School Campus.

Valley Link releasing their revised routes happened shortly after the LCPS school board met for their May meeting to discuss the need and location for an additional elementary school — the fifth in the county — to meet increasing enrollment and population growth.

Tracy Healy is the Owner and President of FutureThink, an organization that focuses primarily on enrollment projections and demographic studies for K-12 school districts across the country. Healy’s recommendation was that the new school should be located in a central part of the county as it would allow a pool of students from existing schools to help with enrollment numbers. Parcel #42 95, which is adjacent to the middle school location, was identified as an option as it is already owned by the school board.

The resolution states that school board finds that the Valley Link Project creates constraints and potential conflicts with the proposed use of Parcel #42 95 and urges the project application to reject routes or designs that place electric transmission infrastructure on or near school property According to an interview with local journalist Tammy Purcell of Engage Louisa, Craig Carper, a Dominion spokesperson, said Valley Link’s proposed corridor is about a third of a mile from the existing school campus and parallels an existing 230-kV transmission line. Carper noted that the line runs the county’s Technology Overlay District (TOD) and that the collocation with the existing 230-kV line aligns with local use plans while keeping a wide buffer from the school campus.

During the meeting, several school board members voiced their disapproval of the project. Valley Link is expecting to submit their final route to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) for consideration in September.

“Hopefully, when the SCC gets this, they will reject this transmission line,” Louisa District school board member Billy Seay said. “There is one reason and only one reason for this transmission line to go through Louisa and it’s to get to Northern Virginia and all of their data centers up there.”

Seay cited recent news from Tennessee — a state law that forces data centers consuming more than 50 megawatts to fund their own infrastructure upgrades instead of letting those costs fall on residential customers. Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) stated that data centers have an “insatiable appetite for energy.”

“[Northern Virginia] is the one with close to 600 data centers,” Seay said. “They can put a power plant in their backyard instead of putting a transmission line in our backyard…hopefully the SCC will do the right thing, because we don’t deserve this.”

Patrick Henry District board member and Chairman Gregory Strickland said there was an effort with him and LCPS Superintendent Doug Straley to reach out and work with Valley Link personnel, but it was unsuccessful.

“I was hoping for some collaborative discourse with them, but I think our conversation has fallen short and they have given us no choice but to do this resolution,” Strickland said.

The school board passed the resolution against Valley Link unanimously. The next opportunity to speak with Valley Link representatives will be at an open house on June 23 from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Betty Queen Center located at 522 Industrial Drive.