The Derecho Blog: Chuck Penn and Dominion double down on Arrogant and Stupid

For those concerned about the Haymarket Power Lines who haven’t yet heard the “How Do You Power An Amazon Data Center? Longtime Prince William Residents Don’t Want To Find Out” radio broadcast on the Kojo Nnamdi Show yesterday, you really should spend some time and listen to it.

Dominion sent their master of arrogance and hubris, Chuck Penn, to represent their interests and true to form he made one misleading statement and accusation after another.  I suspect he and the Dominion executives who elected to make the matter personal didn’t expect to run into the buzz saw that is the otherwise mild-mannered Elena Schlossberg.  She sliced and diced Mr. Penn into a pile of bloody body parts that would have made Freddy Krueger proud, and truth be told, Mr. Penn deserved every bit of it.

Mr. Penn’s version of events has Chairman Stewart “colluding” with the “wealthy, affluent and connected” residents of Somerset Crossing to force the route onto Carver Road.  He refers to the “sweetheart deal” as the “subterfuge of more influential people”.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  He makes no mention of all of the other neighborhoods and areas that have, from day one, opposed every route other than the I-66 Hybrid Route.  Bear in mind that the other proposed routes ran through Piedmont, Heritage Hunt, and Bull Run Mountain just to name a few.  By Mr. Penn’s reasoning since most of those routes were removed by Dominion prior to submission to the SCC, one must presume that there was collusion between Dominion and the “wealthy, affluent and connected” residents of those communities.

No Mr. Penn, the onus for the Carver Route falls solely upon Dominion Energy.  He asserts that the Carver Route came as a result of the BOCS blocking the Railroad Route earlier this year.  What he fails to note is that the Carver Route (and Madison Route) was first proposed nearly two years ago, largely in response to the community outrage over the Railroad, Northern, Western, New Road and I-66 Overhead Routes.  No Mr. Penn, you can not blame Chairman Stewart, the Somerset Crossing HOA or the Coalition for the quagmire Dominion finds itself in, Dominion can only blame itself for the miserable routes selected and the deficient vetting of the Carver and Madison Routes.  Truth be told, I suspect that those two routes were simply red herrings designed to force acceptance of the Railroad or I-66 Overhead Route by the SCC, a strategy that has now blown up in Dominion’s face.

Speaking of the Northern Alternative Route and suspect behavior, perhaps the next person to run into Chuck Penn, a former resident of the Haymarket area, should ask him about the property at 14404 Slatemore Court in Haymarket.  You see, an indivdual named Charles E. Penn, Sr. purchased that property in May of 2013 (Instrument Number 201305310055727), a little more than a year before the single option Railroad Route was first presented.  That same property was then sold by Charles E. Penn, Sr. in October of 2015 (Instrument Number 201510050083236), mere months after the Northern Route which just happened to run along the edge of the neighborhood was removed from consideration.  Coincidence, I think not.  What say you to that Mr. Penn and remember, it was not I that began the accusation game.