Proposed transmission line route named to list of Virginia’s most endangered historic places

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A proposed $1 billion transmission line project route, which would span roughly 115 miles of land throughout Central Virginia, has been named to Preservation Virginia’s 2026 list of most endangered historic places.

The designation identifies the multiple counties that would be impacted by Valley Link’s Joshua Falls-Yeat Transmission Line project as one of 10 that are experiencing “the increasing pressure of new development on historic communities and the ongoing impacts of the data center industry.”

The designation comes amid fierce pushback from landowners, who have expressed concerns varying from seizure of their land through eminent domain, the presence of the lines driving down the value of their property, health risks relating to exposure, and irreparable change to a rural landscape.

While final approval rests with the State Corporation Commission, local County Boards of Supervisors have filed resolutions in opposition to the project, with some even allocating funds from the budget to potential legal challenges.

For Christopher Miller, President of the Piedmont Environmental Council, this project making Preservation Virginia’s list is an indicator of a much larger issue facing the Commonwealth.

“What’s important is they did it as an example, actually, of what is coming over the next decade or so,” Miller said. “We think this is one of probably a dozen new transmission corridors or significantly expanded transmission corridors to serve the contracts that Dominion has entered into, that electric cooperatives have entered into, with the data center industry.”

Valley Link, a joint venture between Dominion Energy and other energy companies, is planning the Joshua Falls-Yeat Transmission Line Project, at 765 kilovolts, the highest-capacity power lines in the state and the nation. These lines would be anywhere from 135 to 165 feet tall, and, at all points throughout the approximately 115-mile route from Campbell County to Culpeper County, would need to clear about 200 feet of land.

Craig Carper, a spokesperson for Valley Link, sent the following statement to 29News in response to the Preservation Virginia naming.

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