Tonight: Vantage Data Center Town Hall. Next Week: Town Hall with the Lt. Governor. Much More.

In This Email

• Town Hall Tonight | 6PM | Park View High School
• Dominion and NextEra Merger | Lt. Governor Town Ha …
• Supervisors Briskman and TeKrony Push Back on By-R …
• Here are some upcoming dates to mark on your calen …

I hope everyone has had a great end of summer and back to school!

While we haven’t had as many Golden to Mars updates the last few weeks, there's been a ton of activity, and we continue to work for a solution that works for all of Loudoun, not just Dominion and the data centers.

We're continuing to work with our partners, including the Loudoun County School Board, our state representatives, Congressman Suhas Subramanyam's office, and county officials to achieve that goal.

If Dominion would actually engage with the community directly, instead of just informing us of their intentions to run high voltage power lines through our neighborhoods and schools, we would work with them too.

Along with the School Board, the County, and others, Loudoun Valley Estates has filed a Notice of Appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court. This preserves our right to appeal the SCC's decision.

There's still a long way to go, and we still need your help. September is shaping up to be a busy month.

Town Hall Tonight | 6PM | Park View High School

Tonight there's a town hall hosted by Sterling Supervisor Koran Saines on the Vantage data center in Sterling- the facility running eight gas turbines 24/7 because it can't yet connect to the grid. 6:00-8:00 PM at Park View High School (400 W. Laurel Avenue, Sterling, VA 20164). Representatives from Vantage and other county departments will be present.

If you haven't followedit: residents near the site have documented noise loud enough to disrupt sleep and daily life, and an independentair quality study estimated $53-99 million a year in possible health-related damages from the turbines running at full permitted capacity. The company says it's in compliance. The county says its readings haven't shown a violation. Residents say something is clearly wrong anyway.

This isn't the Golden to Mars fight we usually write to you about, but it's the same underlying problem: infrastructure gets approved and built, and only afterward do the people living next to it find out what it actually means for their lives. The company had a plan. The county did not have a plan for what happens when that plan lands on a neighborhood's street.

If you can make it tonight, go. If you've been venting about these issues to your friends or neighbors, a group chat or maybe even in a neighborhood message board or WhatsApp group - now this is your chance to put that energy to productive use!

Showing up and participating is what actually makes a difference. Ask Supervisor Saines and the others presenting what specifically will change, on what timeline, and who is accountable if it doesn't - and what the county is doing so the next neighborhood isn't surprised the same way.

Dominion and NextEra Merger | Lt. Governor Town Hall Next Week (9/2)

On top of Golden to Mars, a lot of you have mentioned your electric bills spiking recently.

It is worth connecting that to what's happening at the state level: Loudoun and Northern Virginia's data center growth is a big part of why Dominion and NextEra want this merger in the first place. Ask yourself whether a $420 billion combination is intended to lower what you pay.

Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi is holding a series of town halls across the state on the proposed Dominion-NextEra takeover and what it could mean for utility bills, grid reliability, and communities like ours. State regulators are currently required to finish their review in just six months - Hashmi is calling for more time and a more transparent process before a decision this consequential gets locked in. If you think Dominion is willing to run over Loudoun residents, look at NextEra's track record elsewhere.

Loudoun is the first stop: September 2, 6:00-7:30 PM, Dreamscapes Performing Arts Center, 21014 Whitfield Place, Sterling. https://www.vaenergytour.com/

Supervisors Briskman and TeKrony Push Back on By-Right Approvals

One more piece of positive news to flag: Supervisors Juli Briskman (Algonkian) and Laura TeKrony (Little River) are pushing to immediately expire a grandfathering policy that has let an estimated 10 million square feet of data center space move through the county's by-right, staff-only review process - meaning no board approval and no public hearing.

Both voted against that grandfathering carve-out when it passed last year, and they're bringing the item to end it early to the board on September 1. If it passes, it means more of these projects have to come before the board in public, instead of getting approved administratively with no one watching. They've been consistently on the right side of this fight, and this push is worth showing up for and supporting.

https://www.loudounnow.com/news/supervisors-seek-to-halt-10m-square-feet-of-data-centers-in-loudoun-s-by-right/article_8f93fd98-2249-4349-8876-035712153f1b.html

https://www.loudountimes.com/news/business_and_economy/real_estate_and_development/briskman-tekrony-push-to-end-data-center-grandfathering/article_65dbe3d4-152b-40d3-9c8e-6e2807db51c9.html

If you need to catch up on the latest, Loudoun Now and the Loudoun Times do an amazing job covering Golden to Mars and the broader issues. And please continue to check nopowerlines.org for any additional updates.

And more to come - maybe even as soon as this week - keep an eye out for another significant Golden to Mars update.

Thank you, as always, for staying engaged and continuing to participate!

Here are some upcoming dates to mark on your calendar:

• 8/24 (tonight): Sterling Data Center Town Hall 6pm https://bit.ly/4fWkXJg
• 9/1: Board of Supervisors Business Meeting - Golden Substation potentially on the agenda
• 9/2: Lt. Gov. Hashmi's town hall 6PM https://www.vaenergytour.com/
• 9/8: Loudoun County School Board Meeting
• 9/9: Board of Supervisors Public Hearing
• 9/15: Board of Supervisors Business Meeting - Data Center Moratorium
• 9/22: Loudoun County School Board Meeting