April Chandler
- Subramanyam questions Loudoun transmission line route process, offers new paths for SCC to consider
Transmission lines for a data center in Prince William County, Va. (Photo by Shannon Heckt/Virginia Mercury) The debate over the final path for Dominion Energy’s controversial high-voltage transmission line project in Loudoun County continues, with U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Loudoun, now urging the State Corporation Commission to consider three new routes that avoid cutting through residents’ yards and encroaching on two schools.
- Loudoun County Introduces Virginia’s First Adult Behavioral Health Docket
Loudoun County has become the first in Virginia to implement an adult behavioral health docket.
- Loudoun parent Ian Prior tells DOJ panel his family was harassed after school board fights
Loudoun parent Ian Prior told a June DOJ roundtable his family faced a yearlong harassment campaign after he led a 2021 effort to remove school board members.
- Justice Department says it moved to intervene in Loudoun locker-room lawsuit
Then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said DOJ moved to intervene in a lawsuit by Loudoun parents who say their sons were suspended over a locker-room objection.
- Loudoun and four other Northern Virginia districts placed on federal reimbursement status, education secretary says
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Loudoun and four other Northern Virginia districts were designated high-risk for Title IX violations and placed on reimbursement status for over $50 million.
- Timeline: Loudoun County, the school boards letter and the Garland memo, 2021 to 2026
A timeline of the Loudoun assault, the NSBA letter, the Garland memo and what followed, from 2021 to 2026, assembled from the new DOJ report.
- 2021 email shows DOJ's public corruption chief flagged a Loudoun group that listed parents
An Oct. 2, 2021 email reprinted in the DOJ report shows the Public Integrity Section chief citing reported threats against Loudoun parents as the department drafted the Garland memo.
- At DOJ roundtable, Youngkin, McMahon and Patel put Northern Virginia at center of parents'-rights fight
A transcript in the DOJ report shows Youngkin, McMahon, Patel and Jordan putting Loudoun, Fairfax and Northern Virginia at the center of a June roundtable on parents' rights.
- Alexandria-based school boards group's 2021 letter cited only Loudoun as its Virginia example, DOJ report shows
The NSBA's September 2021 letter to President Biden, reprinted in a DOJ report, cited a Loudoun County School Board meeting as its only Virginia example.
- Loudoun County School Board Faces Parent Concerns Over Facility Policies and Safety
Parents in Loudoun County have raised objections to policies implemented by the Loudoun County School Board concerning student access to bathrooms and locker rooms.
- Loudoun County School Board Reviews Hiring Pause and School Consolidation Options
Loudoun County Public Schools administrators reported to the School Board on October 27 that a hiring freeze affecting teacher positions had been enacted without prior authorization from the board.
- Justice Department report reprints Loudoun lawsuit alleging school officials downplayed 2021 Stone Bridge assault
The DOJ report reprints an October 2025 federal suit alleging Loudoun school officials showed deliberate indifference after a 2021 restroom assault at Stone Bridge High School.
- DOJ report says 2021 school-board memo grew out of White House pressure, with Loudoun case at its center
A 273-page Justice Department report concludes former AG Merrick Garland's 2021 school-board memo grew out of White House pressure and internal objections, and it opens with a Loudoun County case.
- Loudoun superintendent pushes back after Va. delegate slams LGBTQ+ history acknowledgment
Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Aaron Spence testifies during a June 10, 2026 congressional hearing.
- Loudoun County School Board Approves LGBTQ+ History Month Proclamation
Loudoun County Public Schools adopted a proclamation designating October 2026 as LGBTQ+ History Month.
- Burial Is Proven Elsewhere as Virginia Debates Dominion’s Line
RICHMOND — Dominion’s underground HVDC pitch into Northern Virginia did not invent the technology.
- Loudoun Schools Prepare Artificial Intelligence Classroom Pilot as Device Costs Surge Past 70 Percent
Board members split over Gemini Notebook trials at seven middle and high schools while Chromebook and staff laptop prices jump on chip shortages.
- Caleb Kershner Questions Substation Technology Noise Differences
Loudoun County Supervisor Caleb Kershner initiated a discussion on the relative noise levels associated with gas insulated switchgear substations and air insulated switchgear models.
- Laura TeKrony Discusses Compensation Amid State Guidelines
Loudoun County Supervisor Laura TeKrony addressed the compensation structure for board members during a recent meeting.
- Loudoun School Board Receives Plea on Power Lines Near Campuses
During a public comment period at the Loudoun County School Board meeting the presentation addressed high-voltage power lines planned near school properties.
- Loudoun County Public Schools Details Transportation Operations and Future Needs
Loudoun County Public Schools operates a transportation department responsible for an average of sixty route changes per day.
- Loudoun County Public Schools Outlines Threat Assessment Enhancements
Loudoun County Public Schools has presented details on plans to introduce a threat assessment coordinator as part of school safety improvements.
- Loudoun County Data Examines Teacher Pay Growth Versus CPI
Loudoun County Public Schools released data comparing teacher average salary growth to Consumer Price Index trends in a recent presentation.
- Dominion Seeks SCC Blessing for Valley Link Affiliates as FERC Weighs 11.4% ROE Incentives
RICHMOND — Dominion Energy is asking Virginia regulators to bless affiliate contracts that would let shell companies carry a
- Mike Turner Strategy: Require Onsite Microgrids, Green Business Zone With Up to 50% Tax Rebate — Or Keep Building 500 kV Lattices
Ashburn supervisor’s paradigm paper says Loudoun’s grid cannot keep pace; he floats mandatory carbon-net-zero microgrids, SMRs, and a Green Business Development Zone sweetened with rebates against ~$666M in data-center BPPT.
- Virginia Data Centers Point Past 60 GW as Bills, Water, and Diesel Costs Mount
Statewide impact study cites ~1,300 possible facilities, Dominion bill path toward $315, Loudoun’s billion-plus gallons, 8,910 generators, and PJM transmission skewed to data-center load under Democrat-era growth policy.
- Loudoun Democrats Re-Approve Aspen Substation — Sell It as Oxygen-Machine Reliability After Data-Center Boom
After briefly rescinding approval, the Democrat-majority board restores Aspen amid talk of 95 existing or proposed substations; Umstattd and Randall frame wires as life-safety while critics say homes had power before 200 data centers.
- Average Residential Bills Toward $315 by 2039 as Data-Center Load Dominates
Unconstrained Demand cites Dominion figures taking typical residential bills from about $142.77 now to $315.25 by 2039 — primarily on data-center sector energy needs — while JLARC separately pegs $14–$37 monthly generation and transmission cost pressure by 2040.
- From Marye’s Transmission Study to the 2013 Amendment — Utilities Still Take Land for Data Center Load
RICHMOND — Virginia’s modern property-rights constitution did not begin with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 Kelo decision.
- UCS: Data-Center Grid Hookups Put $4.3B on PJM Customers in 2024 — Virginia Alone Near $2B
Union of Concerned Scientists brief says transmission-level campus taps are socialized through FERC and state rates; Virginia’s 60 tracked projects total about $1.988 billion under the rules Democrat-era load growth exploited.
- Loudoun’s Turning Point: First 5–4 Data-Center Denial in 2024, Scaled 6–3 Pass, Then March 18 End of Open By-Right
Turner’s timeline traces Democrat-board politics from the first major denial of a 2.9M sq ft project, to a 1.3M by-right comeback, to the 7–2 March 18, 2025 vote ending open by-right — with grandfathering still attached.
- Loudoun: 55% of Cited Data Centers Sit Within 200 Feet of Homes
Unconstrained Demand’s Fairfax proximity stats — 55% within 200 feet, 70% within 500 feet — show how Democrat land-use permissions put industrial campuses into residential buffers statewide.
- Central Virginia Lined Up for 290+ Data Centers — Spreading Loudoun’s Fight Down the I-95 Corridor
Unconstrained Demand says Central Virginia expects 290-plus campuses that would rival Northern Virginia’s hubs, with statewide tallies near 1,300 facilities and 390 million square feet as Democrat recruitment goes statewide.
- Virginia’s Data-Center Boom Runs on Water and Diesel: Loudoun’s Billion Gallons and 8,910 Generators
Unconstrained Demand tallies Loudoun data centers above 1 billion gallons of water in 2023, statewide use above 2.1 billion, and 8,910 mostly Tier 2 diesel generators permitted for up to 500 hours a year.
- Abigail Spanberger Signs Executive Order 22 on Data Center Accountability and AI Task Force
Governor Abigail Spanberger’s Executive Order 22 and 2027 legislative slate target NDAs, local approval for large loads, noise and backup power, and an AI task force—without a statewide moratorium.
- Virginia Warned in 1999 That Power-Line Easements Leave Landowners Paying for Residue Damage
RICHMOND — Long before Data Center Alley turned Northern Virginia into a magnet for 500 kV and 765 kV corridors, the General Assembly already knew what transmission easements do to private land.
- Meeting Unconstrained Virginia Data-Center Power Demand Will Be “Very Difficult” — Households Face Rising System Costs
December 2024 JLARC Report 598 finds unconstrained demand could double Virginia power need in a decade, new build rates look unachievable, and Dominion residential customers could see $14–$37 more per month in generation and transmission costs by 2040.
- Loudoun’s Substation Swarm: 95 Existing or Proposed, 30–40 More Coming — Every Data-Center Vote Becomes a Wires Vote
County presentations tied to Aspen put Loudoun near a hundred substations with dozens more planned; Democrat supervisors admit approving a campus means approving the substation and line that follow.
- Loudoun Votes: Democrat Board Ends Open By-Right Data Centers — After 9–0 Use Expansion and 5–4 Grandfathering
Ghiorzi hearing notes and Granicus timestamps show a 7–2 main motion, a failed 5–4 attempt to kill administrative grandfathering, a 9–0 add-data-center use on 1972–1993 lots, and Briskman’s 41M / 61M sq ft warning.
- Spanberger presents slate of data center regulation proposals, puts first directives in motion
Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed Executive Order 22 on Friday, Sept. 18 to kick off her data center regulation package.
- Mike Turner 2026 Deck: Loudoun Data-Center Load Hit 5.33 GW — Planned Adds Still Short of 14–20 GW Path
Ashburn supervisor’s June 15, 2026 paradigm slides and strategy paper put 53M sq ft built, 60M in pipeline, and microgrid/SMR/HVDC scenarios against a Democrat-board boom that March 18 only partly closed.
- Data-Center Growth Adds Tens of Billions to Plan NPV vs “No Data Center Growth”
SCC-directed 2024 IRP supplement (PUR-2024-00184) shows portfolio NPVs about $100.2–$103.3 billion with data-center growth versus about $77.2–$80.9 billion when data-center load growth is frozen.
- Valley Link’s 765 kV Northern Line Is PATH Reborn — Aimed at Loudoun Data Centers, Critics Say
RICHMOND / LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — A roughly 260-mile, 765-kilovolt transmission line from West Virginia into Maryland — the northern spine of PJM’s Valley Link portfolio — is being pitched as new reliability steel.
- Kimley-Horn to Loudoun: Data-Center Pipeline Implies ~8,190 MW — More Transmission Than PJM Had Approved
County-commissioned September 2024 due diligence tallies ~117 pipeline buildings at ~70 MW each and urges corridor mapping, undergrounding, collocation, and reconductoring as Democrat-led Loudoun faces the grid gap it helped create.
- Western Loudoun Push: One Underground HVDC Instead of MARL and Valley Link North Overhead
LOVETTSVILLE, Va. — Theresa Ghiorzi and a JotForm petition urge Loudoun, Frederick, and Clarke officials to back a single underground HVDC alternative to FirstEnergy’s MARL/Gore–Doubs–Goose Creek 500 kV and Valley Link North 765 kV lines into Data Center Alley.
- Fast-Track Large-Load Queue Is Not in the Public Interest — Preferential Power for Speculative Data Centers
RICHMOND — In a June 30, 2026 brief in PUR-2026-00011, Theresa Ghiorzi tells the SCC a paid ‘fast-track’ interconnection preference for large loads fails Virginia’s public-interest and public-use tests, citing Norfolk Southern (2025) and Dominion’s own ~70 GW speculative queue.
- Theresa Ghiorzi Moves to Dismiss Golden-Mars, Citing Loudoun Route Rigging and Untallied Homeowner Takings
RICHMOND / LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — In PUR-2025-00056, Theresa Ghiorzi asks the SCC to dismiss Dominion’s Golden-Mars 500/230 kV application, restart siting de novo, finish Line #514 first, and stop connecting high-demand customers until Data Center Alley load drops below NERC-violation thresholds.
- Ghiorzi Family Tells SCC to Reject Dominion’s IRP: Co-Locate Generation or Make Data Centers Pay for Underground HVDC
LOVETTSVILLE, Va. — In April 2025 comments on Dominion’s 2024 Integrated Resource Plan (PUR-2024-00184), Theresa Ghiorzi and relatives urge the SCC to reject the plan, require campus co-located baseload, and stop socializing ‘multi-driver’ 500/765 kV extension cords from West Virginia coal across 13 PJM states.
- Dominion’s SCC Filing: 70 GW of Large-Load Requests — Nearly Triple the DOM Zone Peak — Feed the Transmission Fight
RICHMOND — Dominion Energy Virginia’s PUR-2026-00011 large-load connection queue application tells the State Corporation Commission that about 70,000 MW of data-center-scale delivery-point requests are advancing — nearly triple the Dominion Zone’s 24,678 MW all-time peak — with 2,000–3,000 MW more arriving most months.
- Loudoun Sheriff Issues Letter Clarifying ICE Cooperation Practices
Loudoun County is governed by a nine-member Board of Supervisors that includes Chair At-Large Phyllis Randall, Vice Chair Michael Turner of the Ashburn District, Juli Briskman of the Algonkian District, Sylvia Glass of the Broad Run District, Caleb Kershner of the Catoctin District, Matthew Letourneau of the Dulles District, Kristen Umstattd of the Leesburg District, Laura TeKrony of the Little River District, and Koran Saines of the Sterling District.
