Golden to Mars — Community Speaking Points

19 unique scripts (~1 minute each / ~130-150 words). You have 2 minutes — use the remaining time to share your personal experience.

These talking points are samples. Feel free to adapt them in your own voice. The most powerful testimony combines facts with your personal story — how this affects your family, your home, your neighborhood. Pick one script that resonates with you, make it your own, and deliver it with conviction.

Script 1: "This Is Our Home"

Theme: Personal stakes

My family bought our home here in good faith — not expecting industrial infrastructure in our backyard. We chose this neighborhood because it's residential, because it's where we're raising our kids.

185-foot towers — eighteen stories — right outside our windows? That's not reasonable change. That's a permanent transformation. These lines would be here for fifty to one hundred years.

We support necessary infrastructure. But there are proven alternatives that don't sacrifice neighborhoods. The county has the right-of-way. The question isn't whether it's possible — it's whether this Board will accept overhead when better options exist.

[Insert your personal connection to your home and neighborhood here.]

This is our home. We shouldn't have to abandon it or accept industrial infrastructure to stay in it.

Ask: Please accept all 8 easements and don't signal that overhead through residential neighborhoods is acceptable.

We invite you to come see our home. Stand in our yard and imagine what 185 feet of steel looks like from where our kids play.

Script 2: "Follow the Money"

Theme: Dominion's profit motive

Dominion doesn't make this decision based on what's best for our community. They make it based on what's best for shareholders. They earn more money building overhead.

Dominion executives have called overhead construction an "earnings driver." Overhead costs them less to build. They charge ratepayers the same rate and keep the difference as profit.

Underground costs more but protects our homes, property values, and kids' health. The cost is less than a dollar a month per household. But Dominion would rather keep that margin.

[If applicable: Share how your property value concerns affect your family.]

We have a choice: let a utility's profit motive determine the future of our neighborhoods, or insist on solutions that prioritize community protection.

Ask: Please don't let Dominion's profit motive determine what our neighborhood looks like for generations. Support underground.

Come visit our community. Then look at Dominion's earnings report. See who profits and who pays.

Script 3: "Our Kids Deserve Better"

Theme: Schools and children

Our children go to school in this corridor. They walk to school. They play outside. Dominion's plan would surround them with 185-foot towers at 500,000 volts.

Loudoun County Public Schools took a formal position against overhead routing. The Board of Education understood: our schools are in this project area.

We're not being alarmist. This is industrial infrastructure. The electromagnetic fields are measurable. The impact on children living and learning under these towers is real.

[Insert: My kids go to ___ school. They play at ___ park.]

You made the right call supporting the School Board. Now make sure that support means something.

Ask: Please protect our children and schools. Support underground through sensitive areas.

Come see our schools. Watch the kids at recess. Then picture 185-foot towers on the other side of the fence.

Script 4: "Data Centers Created This — They Should Help Pay"

Theme: Cost-sharing

This project exists because of data centers. PJM named it "Data Center Alley Local Solution." SCC Staff confirmed it's driven by data center load, not residential needs.

Data centers consume massive electricity. They've driven billions in new infrastructure. But who pays? The communities in the corridor.

Virginia's General Assembly understood. HB 1487 and SB 827 create a cost-sharing mechanism so entities benefiting most help pay for community protection.

The pilot program costs about $0.99 per household per month. Why should residents bear 100% of the cost while data centers bear none of the impact?

Ask: Please support the underground pilot program. Data center beneficiaries should share the cost.

Come visit and count the data center campuses within a mile of our homes. Then count the homes. The math speaks for itself.

Script 5: "The Urgency Is Manufactured"

Theme: Dominion created this crisis

Dominion has known about this project for years. They planned it. They understood the complexity. But when opposition grew, suddenly everything was "urgent."

Dominion filed early segments years ago. But the most complex segment — through our neighborhoods — they filed last. Then they said: "No time for underground. Do you want blackouts?"

That's not urgency. That's manufactured pressure. SCC Staff confirmed it: Dominion created its own crisis by filing segments out of order.

If this were truly unavoidable, Dominion would have demonstrated that years ago. Instead, they filed strategically and then claimed time pressure.

[Insert: How did you first learn about this project? How transparent was Dominion?]

Ask: Please don't let manufactured urgency force a permanent mistake.

Come visit and we'll walk you through the timeline. You'll see what "no time" actually means when Dominion controlled the clock.

Script 6: "Underground Is Proven"

Theme: Chino Hills precedent

This isn't theoretical. In Chino Hills, California, residents faced the exact same problem. They were told underground was infeasible. Told it would cost too much. Told it couldn't be done.

They fought anyway. And they won. Overhead lines came down. Underground went in.

Chino Hills has sent a letter to Virginia's SCC supporting our community. They've lived it. They know it works.

This isn't just possible in theory. It's proven in practice. The question isn't feasibility — it's whether Dominion wants to invest in community protection or cut corners.

[If you've researched Chino Hills: Share what you learned.]

Ask: Please support underground. Chino Hills proved it works. We can too.

The Chino Hills towers are gone now. Come see where ours would go — while there's still time to stop them.

Script 7: "Property Values at Risk"

Theme: Tax base and equity

Within half a mile of the proposed corridor: $2.8 billion in assessed property value. That's homes. That's life savings.

Studies show property values decline 10 to 30 percent near high-voltage lines. That's not just a family issue — it's a community tax base issue. Lower values mean less school funding, less services, less of everything.

[Insert: Our home is our largest investment. What this means for our family.]

Underground infrastructure protects property values. The cost is manageable. The benefit is generational.

This Board has the responsibility to protect community wealth. Don't sacrifice home values to save a few million in construction costs.

Ask: Please protect property values. Support underground.

Come see what $2.8 billion in property value looks like. It's our neighborhood. It's our homes. It's worth protecting.

Script 9: "We Were Misled"

Theme: Dominion's deception

Dominion showed underground options on maps in their initial presentations. Then they quietly removed them. Why?

They promised "extensive community engagement." What we got was information that filtered out alternatives and a timeline that eliminated options.

FOIA revealed Dominion sent only one email to VDOT about underground. One. They didn't test alternatives. Then they claimed options were infeasible — based on studies edited by their own engineers.

[If you've reviewed documents: Share what the feasibility study showed versus its conclusion.]

We deserve honesty. We deserve all options. We deserve to know when obstacles are real or just convenient excuses.

Ask: Please hold Dominion accountable. Don’t let them strong arm us into a horrible solution for the county and it’s residents

Come visit and we'll show you the maps — the ones that had underground options, and the ones where they disappeared.

Script 10: "18 Stories Tall"

Theme: Industrial scale

When Dominion says "transmission lines," people picture small poles. Let me be clear: this is not that.

185 feet. Eighteen stories. As tall as three six-story buildings stacked together. Within fifty feet of homes.

Close enough that a fluorescent bulb lights up from the electromagnetic field alone.

This is industrial infrastructure. It belongs in industrial areas, not where children play and families sleep.

The county has zoning for a reason. Dominion's routing is a choice — a choice to sacrifice our neighborhood for their profit margin.

Let's be honest: 18-story towers in residential neighborhoods. That's not a utility upgrade. That's a transformation.

Ask: This is the wrong place. Please support underground.

Come visit. Look up 185 feet. That's where the top of the tower would be. Now look at the house next to you. That's what we're talking about.

Script 11: "The County Already Made This Argument"

Theme: Consistency with AWS/GW deal

The County's Economic Development Director said about the AWS deal: "There are right places and wrong places for development."

He said he'd "lay down in front of bulldozers" rather than see development in the wrong location.

That was about a commercial facility. If there are "right places and wrong places" for a commercial building, then there are absolutely right and wrong places for industrial transmission infrastructure.

Overhead towers in residential neighborhoods are the wrong place.

This Board has acknowledged the principle: location matters. Community character matters. Now apply that principle consistently.

Ask: Please be consistent. Apply your own development principles to transmission infrastructure.

Come walk our neighborhood. Tell us it doesn't deserve the same protection as a commercial campus. We don't think you can.

Script 12: "Accept the 8th Easement"

Theme: Complete the easement package

In January, this Board accepted seven easements. Good decision. Those easements make hybrid routing possible.

The eighth removes the final barrier. Zero fiscal impact — County staff confirmed it. Consistent with the Comp Plan and the 2025 resolution.

Dominion opposes it because it removes their excuse for overhead-only routing. That's precisely why the Board should accept it.

When a company opposes an easement that makes protection possible, you know their commitment isn't to Loudoun communities.

Accept the eighth. Keep options open. Signal to the SCC that Loudoun County supports infrastructure that protects neighborhoods.

Ask: Please accept the 8th easement. Remove the final obstacle to hybrid routing.

Come see the easement parcels. See where hybrid routing becomes possible — and why Dominion doesn't want you to have that option.

Script 13: "Don't Give Away Our Leverage"

Theme: Strategic messaging to SCC

When a Board member said the County would accept "any three routes," that statement went to the SCC. It signaled: overhead through neighborhoods is acceptable.

That undermines everything — the community's fight, the Board's own resolution.

The message we need: Loudoun County supports solutions that meet infrastructure needs AND protect neighborhoods. We will not accept overhead as inevitable.

Accept easements. Support the pilot. But don't simultaneously tell the SCC overhead is fine.

This is the moment of maximum influence. Every signal matters.

Ask: Don't signal acceptance of overhead. Maintain the Board's leverage.

Come visit and tell us to our faces that "any three routes" is acceptable. We think you'll change your mind.

Script 14: "Our Delegation Delivered"

Theme: Legislative support

Senator Srinivasan and Delegate Singh got HB 1487 and SB 827 passed — bipartisan — and wrote directly to the SCC.

This isn't just local. Transmission corridors will define multiple Virginia neighborhoods. If we don't establish that community protection is required, we'll repeat this fight everywhere.

The legislation creates cost-sharing so data center beneficiaries help pay. It's fair. It's proven.

Our delegation delivered. Now we need to do our part. The bills require a formal Board resolution — Let bring this home.

Ask: Please pass a resolution supporting HB 1487/SB 827. Do what our delegation did — prioritize community protection.

Come meet the families our delegation is fighting for. They'd love to show you what they're protecting.

Script 15: "Dominion's Playbook"

Theme: Escalation tactics

Watch the pattern. We questioned route A; Dominion escalated to B — worse, closer, more disruptive. Each proposal was worse than the last.

That's not planning. That's leverage.

Route 1F was "under consideration" until their own counsel said it wasn't — buried in a footnote. Then they threatened it anyway.

This is a playbook: propose increasingly unacceptable routes until communities surrender and accept "the least bad option."

Don't fall for it. The best route — hybrid through appropriate corridors — has always been available.

Ask: See through the escalation. Insist on solutions that work, not just less bad.

Come to Vicky Hu's house. See where they want to put two 185-foot towers. In her yard. Then ask Dominion about their "least impactful" routing.

Script 16: "20 Years Without a Problem"

Theme: No reliability emergency

I've lived here twenty years. I haven't experienced power reliability issues. Neither has anyone I know.

SCC Staff confirmed it: this project is driven by projected data center demand — future load growth — not current reliability problems.

That's not a reason to rush. That's a reason to plan thoughtfully. When infrastructure is driven by future demand from a single sector, you have time to do it right.

Dominion uses "reliability" language to create urgency. But real reliability problems would already exist. They don't.

We support growth — managed responsibly, with proper planning and solutions that protect neighborhoods.

Ask: There's no emergency. Support thoughtful planning that prioritizes community protection.

Come sit on my porch. Notice the lights are on. The grid works. There's no emergency — just a utility in a hurry.

Script 17: "The Feasibility Study Was Edited"

Theme: Dominion edited conclusions

The underground feasibility study by Dominion’s Burns & McDonnell reads as "feasible" throughout. Page after page — feasible with manageable costs, feasible with known methods.

Then the conclusion flips to "infeasible." Who made that edit? Not the engineering firm. Dominion's own routing engineer made the final changes.

A county witness testified under oath that the analysis supports feasibility, but the conclusion contradicts it. Why would an engineering firm write "feasible" in the body and "infeasible" in the conclusion?

Because Dominion changed it.

Ask: Please demand an independent, unedited analysis. No company should edit its own studies to reach predetermined conclusions.

Come visit and we'll show you the study. Read the analysis, then read the conclusion. The contradiction will tell you everything.

Script 18: "Amazon Answered Dominion, Not Us"

Theme: Corporate accountability

The community reached out to Amazon for months about the transition station. No response.

The County reached out officially. Still nothing.

Dominion called once. Amazon answered immediately. Then concrete was poured on New Year's Eve.

Amazon prioritizes Dominion. The community? We're obstacles to manage.

This is the reality of infrastructure driven by corporate demand. Neighborhoods are externalities — costs borne by people who got no benefit.

[Insert: When that concrete went down, nobody told us.]

Ask: Please demand corporate accountability from project beneficiaries.

Come see the concrete Amazon poured on New Year's Eve. Nobody asked us. Nobody told us. Come see what "community engagement" actually looks like.

Script 19: "A Generational Decision"

Theme: Long-term impact

Transmission infrastructure lasts fifty to one hundred years. My children will grow up with whatever you decide. Their children might too.

This isn't temporary. This is a permanent alteration of our neighborhood.

I want my kids growing up in a community that was protected, not sacrificed. I want them to know their community stood up for itself.

Every board member will be gone eventually. But the towers will still be here. The next generation will look back and know what choices we made.

[Insert: What does your home and neighborhood mean to your family's future?]

Ask: Please make the decision you'd be proud of in twenty years.

Come visit and bring your grandchildren. Look around together. Then decide what kind of neighborhood they deserve to inherit.

Script 20: "The Window Is Now"

Theme: Act now

The SCC ruling could come any day. The legislation has passed. The easements are on the table.

Every signal this Board sends matters. You've passed a resolution. You've accepted seven easements. You've recognized hybrid routing is possible.

Now finish what you started. Accept the eighth easement. Support the pilot program. Make clear that overhead through residential neighborhoods is not acceptable when alternatives are feasible.

Don't wait for the ruling and wonder: what if we'd done more?

The window is now. The choice is yours. Act — for your community, for your kids, for neighborhoods that have earned protection, not sacrifice.

Ask: Act now. Please accept the easement, support the legislation, and make clear: overhead is not acceptable in Loudoun County.

Come see our neighborhood while it still looks like a neighborhood. The window to visit is as urgent as the window to act.