We all knew the odds were stacked against our community as soon as Dominion proposed running Amazon’s extension cord throughout our neighborhoods, with at one time as many as 10 possible routes! This community joined together and supported the fight to advocate for only ONE acceptable route, IF Dominion could prove the need.
Delegate Danica Roem’s HB 556 will allow for organizations registered as participants in a utility case, like the Coalition, to receive reimbursement from the state (under very specific conditions) for fees incurred such as legal and expert witness costs. This bill will benefit citizen groups all across the state. Please send this easy click-to-send email supporting HB 556 now – the House subcommittee votes on Tuesday, February 6. Your message needs to be received by next Tuesday morning. More details below.
Our fight has been long and arduous, with donations to the Coalition as small as $10.00 and as large as $30,000.00 from the Prince William County Board of Supervisors. As you are probably well aware, the beginning cost of a transmission line fight is around $100,000.00. This community has scraped and clawed our way with less than that to ensure that the Coalition could remain engaged throughout the long process which this case has required.
While Dominion has an excess profit of $426 MILLION dollars from rate payers in 2016 alone (according to the SCC Staff), we are managing to stay afloat with very little resources by comparison! Dominion uses the money we pay to them in utility rates to fund their involvement in this case, and then we have to come up with more funds to protect ourselves. We are paying double!
Isn’t it only fair to level out the playing field, just a little bit? We believe that regular citizens in our state should have a fighting chance to protect their own private property from a large monopoly like Dominion Energy. Ensuring that groups who step up to be case participants have a possibility of recouping some of their costs will make the process more fair, and hopefully also encourage more citizen groups to step up and get involved.
Please play a critical role and personalize this easy click-to-send message to voice your support of HB 556.
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