This text was taken from an email alert sent out on August 26, 2026. Sign up for email alerts →
Dear Supporter,
I hope you’ve had the opportunity to beat the heat this summer by visiting some of our local forests, parks, and historic sites including the new Culpeper Battlefields State Park and Salubria House. I’m writing to let you know about an important amendment Culpeper County is considering making to its Comprehensive Plan – which PEC supports – that would strengthen local policies and encourage mitigation and less impactful transmission line route selection. There will be an opportunity to provide input on this amendment at an upcoming Planning Commission meeting.
But first, let’s talk data centers. Please join me at the Culpeper Library on Saturday, Aug. 29 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. for an informational session about Data Centers in Virginia and Culpeper. During this presentation, I will provide an overview of the data center landscape in Virginia, including local and regional impacts of the industry, a look at the data centers currently being built here in Culpeper and what you can do about it. *Pre-registration appreciated but not required. We will provide an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter at this event.
Contact Your Local Officials About Disruptions from Data Center Construction
If you’re being impacted by noise, dust, traffic, blasting and other effects of data center construction in Culpeper, contact your Town Council, Board of Supervisors and State Representatives to let them know. Our one-pager provides a directory of Culpeper officials and a map of existing and approved (to be built) data centers.
Proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendment Seeks to Curb Transmission Line Impacts
On Wednesday, Sept. 9, the Culpeper County Planning Commission will hold a hearing on an amendment to the county’s Comprehensive Plan. The county introduced this amendment in response to Valley Link’s proposed Joshua Falls-Yeat transmission line, which is a massive 115+ mile, 765-kilovolt (kV) line between the Joshua Falls substation in Campbell County and a proposed substation in Culpeper County called Yeat.
PEC supports the This amendment, which which PEC supports, would strengthen the county’s policy position to discourage and mitigate impacts from new and expanded transmission lines to serve data centers such as Joshua Falls-Yeat. Read more about the amendment below.
Support Limiting the Impacts of Transmission Lines in Culpeper
Please consider writing a letter of support for this amendment and coming to the hearing!
When: Wednesday, Sept. 9 @ 7 p.m.
Where: County Administration Building, 302 N. Main St., Culpeper, VA.
At a Dominion Energy presentation to the Culpeper Board of Supervisors in May, hundreds of Culpeper County residents turned out in a show of opposition against the Valley Link project.
The Joshua Falls-Yeat line is one of several new transmission lines Valley Link, a collaboration between energy companies Dominion Energy and FirstEnergy, is proposing to bring more power to Virginia’s data centers. The Joshua Falls-Yeat line would cut through at least nine counties, ending at an 88-acre substation – Yeat – in the historic community of Richardsville.
The Comprehensive Plan is an official county document that guides decisions about growth and development, including rezonings, conditional use permits and the need for additional policies or ordinances. The Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors use the Comprehensive Plan as a reference point when proposals arise that could conflict with the vision and values of the community.
Virginia law requires localities to review their Comprehensive Plans regularly, and although complete rewrites – like the one Culpeper undertook in 2022/2023 to draft its current plan – are infrequent, small amendments are regularly incorporated to address new developments that could impact the community.
How Does Amending the Comprehensive Plan Help?
Local governments can approve or deny substations, and the Culpeper Board of Supervisors has indicated it is opposed to the Yeat substation. However, local governments, including Culpeper, have no direct power to stop the construction of new transmission lines.
The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), the agency that regulates new transmission projects in the state, will take a locality’s Comprehensive Plan into consideration when reviewing transmission cases and determining the optimal route for the line and necessary mitigation though. Having the locality’s priorities clearly spelled out in the Comprehensive Plan can help steer new transmission growth away from sensitive areas, such as farms, homes and historic landmarks, and encourage mitigation of impacts.
This does not guarantee that an area prioritized by the Comprehensive Plan won’t be impacted by transmission lines, but serves as notice that the locality wants to see these resources avoided, giving the community much firmer ground to stand on when demanding alternative routes, undergrounding or mitigation.
Why We Support This Amendment
The proposed amendment is similar to Comprehensive Plan amendments recently adopted in Louisa County and Orange County, which are in keeping with the regional pushback to the Joshua Falls-Yeat 765 kV project.
The Culpeper amendment:
- Prioritizes preserving the rural character of Culpeper, protecting agricultural and forestal lands, and minimizing impacts to existing communities, consistent with other policies within the Comprehensive Plan.
- Establishes a “Corridor-First Policy” that specifies a preference for using previously disturbed areas, such as existing transmission lines and other utility easements to consolidate new infrastructure to the extent practicable.
- Includes a thorough list of areas to be avoided, including residential areas, agricultural and forestal lands, conservation easements, scenic areas, and other natural, historical and cultural resources. This adds important context to the “Corridor-First Policy,” since some existing corridors already cross sensitive areas or conservation easements and should not be expanded.
- Includes a preference for undergrounding transmission lines where technically feasible and less impactful to the community and environment.
At the hearing, the Planning Commission will make a recommendation to adopt or deny the proposal before sending it to the Board of Supervisors for a final hearing and vote. The earliest the Board will hear the amendment would be Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Another upcoming event: If you’re interested in learning more about how the Town of Cuplpeper’s Comprehensive Plans affect zoning decisions and land development in the community, attend this upcoming information session hosted by the Culpeper Citizens Information Network at the Culpeper United Methodist Church Thursday, Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. Learn more →
Thanks for engaging on these important issues. Our goal is to help you stay informed on those land use and development issues that are important to you. If there is another issue you’d like to see included in future emails, please send me an email and let me know.
Please share this email with anyone who might be interested and encourage them to sign up for our updates.
Sincerely,
Sarah Parmelee
Land Use Field Representative
Culpeper County
[email protected]
(540) 347-2334 ext. 7045
