Residents urge board to reject overhead Golden‑to‑Mars transmission routes near schools; supervisors say they will press for burial where feasible

Residents of multiple Sterling and Ashburn neighborhoods and students from area schools urged the Board of Supervisors on March 18 to reject proposed overhead high‑voltage transmission lines for Dominion Energy’s Golden‑to‑Mars project, particularly where alignments would pass near Rosalie Carter Elementary School and Rock Ridge High School.

Speakers described the routes designated by Dominion as Routes 3 and 4 (board‑preferred alignments) and urged the county and the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to require partial or full undergrounding where lines would be within several hundred feet of school buildings, athletic fields and residential streets. Students and parents raised health concerns citing studies that link long‑term electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure to elevated childhood leukemia risk; parents emphasized children’s daily exposure to the corridors if routes are approved.

Many speakers urged the board to press Dominion to consider partial‑underground or alternative corridors and to seek independent technical review of Dominion’s impact assessments. Speakers noted the availability of parcels, including some privately held properties near the corridor that Dominion said were not viable for substation work, and contended that additional land or partial underground techniques could reduce school and neighborhood impacts.

Supervisor Brice Turner told residents the board had previously identified Route 4 as its preferred alignment and Route 3 as a secondary preference — a decision framed as picking the least impactful of the available overhead options — and repeated that the board will continue to advocate that Dominion bury lines that would pass within 500 feet of residences or schools. Turner said the board does not control final routing decisions: “If it was up to us, we would be voting for the lines to be buried,” he said, and urged residents to engage with the SCC process as the ultimate decision will be made by the state utility regulator.

An impassioned set of youth speakers, including middle and high‑school students, told the board the proposed overhead lines would affect day‑to‑day school life and demanded the board seek alternatives. One Rock Ridge student said, “Children who live near high voltage power lines have double the chance to get leukemia. That means two times the chance of kids to spend their childhood in wards for chemotherapy instead of playgrounds.”

What’s next: Board members pledged continued advocacy with Dominion, MWAA and LCPS and said staff will press for feasibility studies on partial‑underground options; the SCC process for the transmission project remains the venue where final routing and burial decisions will be made. Residents were urged to file comments with the SCC and participate in technical and public review.