Golden to Mars SCC Case Updates

June 2, 2026:
The State Corporation Commission provided an update to their April 9, 2026 Order giving the Loudoun County School Board a deadline of July 2, 2026 to decide if they will give Dominion consent to proceed with Route 4. If they do not, the commission will issue a final order approving Route 3A. They further stated that the April 9th Order was not final judgment, order or decree and not subject to petitions for rehearing or reconsideration. The Petition will need to be re-filed if necessary, once the final order is issued as expected in early July.

May 8, 2026:
The Loudoun County Attorney's Office filed a Memorandum in Support of Loudoun Valley Estates and HOA Roundtable Petition for Reconsideration with the State Corporation Commission. The County is now formally on record supporting LVE and HOA Roundtable's motion asking the SCC to reconsider its April 9 Order approving overhead Route 4. The County's brief argues that Dominion's illegal Route 1F distorted the proceeding, that condemning residential property for private data center demand raises constitutional problems, and that the Commission ignored the cost-allocation question entirely.

April 29, 2026:
Loudoun Valley Estates Homeowners Association and HOA Roundtable filed a Petition for Reconsideration with the State Corporation Commission asking the Commission to reopen the record and reconsider the currently selected routing in light of newly enacted legislation that specifically identifies this project as a candidate for underground construction, and legal obstacles that impact the routes currently under consideration.

April 9, 2026:
The Virginia State Corporation Commission issued its ruling in the Golden-Mars transmission line case (PUR-2025-00056). Here is what the Commission decided and what it means.

The Commission approved overhead Route 4 for the Golden-Mars Lines. As most of you are aware, Route 4 requires Loudoun County School Board approval to construct. If that approval is not granted, the Commission indicated its intention to approve Route 3A as a fallback. The Commission spent considerable space in the order explaining why Route 3A is worse by nearly every measure - including for the schools themselves - impacting more homes, more open space, more of the Broad Run Stream Valley Park, and crossing Loudoun Reserve Drive at the entrance to Rock Ridge High School and Rosa Lee Carter Elementary.

The Commission did not opine on any other route. Several legal and evidentiary arguments raised by Loudoun Valley Estates and other respondents during the proceeding - including arguments related to specific route constraints - were not addressed in the order, however, we still hold them to be impediments to potential overhead routes.

The Commission found that undergrounding is not feasible for this project based on the evidence in this case, citing timeline, cost, and constructability challenges. The Commission acknowledged SB 827 and HB 1487 - the underground pilot program bills that recently passed the General Assembly and are awaiting the Governor's signature - as a potential path forward but concluded, in their view, that the current record does not support undergrounding for this project.

The Commission confirmed the project's need. No party in the proceeding contested that the transmission lines are needed to address projected reliability violations created by the proliferation of hyperscale data centers. The dispute throughout this case was about how and where the project should be built.

Recent filings: After the record closed, LVE and the Coalition to Protect the Broad Run Stream Valley filed supplemental letters raising additional legal and evidentiary arguments. Dominion filed a motion on March 31 asking the Commission to strike those letters. The Commission denied Dominion's motion, but stated that it did not consider any documents filed after the close of the record.

What the Commission’s order does not do is dispute the facts presented in those filings.

‍The Commission took note of the extraordinary level of civic engagement in this case. The Rock Ridge High School auditorium was filled twice for local hearings. Thousands of pages of written comments were submitted through the Commission's public comment portal. Approximately 600 individuals signed up to testify orally, and the Commission described the comments as standing out for their personalization, passion, and civility. The Commission also recognized that most public commenters did not contest need - they contested how and where. That is exactly the position we have held from the beginning. This community showed up, made its case, and was heard. We will continue to make that case.

‍What happens next: Dominion has 14 days to provide the Commission a status update and 30 days to submit a map of the approved route.

‍We are reviewing the full order carefully, consulting with our counsel and coalition partners, and evaluating all available options. This is a detailed and consequential ruling and we want to be thorough in evaluating paths forward.

‍We will share more as our review progresses. In the meantime, the full order and recent filings are available on the Commission's website. I encourage you to read the ruling, as well as those recent filings, directly.

‍Case documents are available on the SCC website.