MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The Berkeley County Commission has released a letter formally opposing the Valley Link Transmission Project as currently proposed.
The Resolution cites the commission’s duty to “protect the property rights, economic interests, and quality of life of the citizens of this County.”
“Residents of Berkeley County have expressed significant and widespread concern regarding the Project’s impact on private property, the local environment, and electricity rates and that the burden of hosting new transmission infrastructure, easements, and construction impacts would fall on the residents and landowners of Berkeley County and other West Virginia counties along the route, while the primary economic benefit of the Project would accrue to out-of-state load centers and the utilities and developers involved,” the resolution reads, in part.
The Valley Link Transmission Project would see approximately 260 miles of new 765-kilovolt (kV) transmission lines built connecting Putnam County, West Virginia, to Frederick County, Maryland.
Valley Link, a collaboration among AEP subsidiary Transource Energy, FirstEnergy Transmission, and Virginia-based Dominion Energy, has hosted 23 open houses throughout the communities that would be affected by the line. The proposal is for the 765-kV (kilovolt) line to begin at the John Amos Power Plant in Putnam County and travel through 20 West Virginia counties to Frederick County, Maryland.
Following is the resolution provided to The Panhandle News Network by the Berkeley County Commission:
WHEREAS, Valley Link Transmission, LLC, a joint venture involving Dominion Energy, Transource Energy, and FirstEnergy Transmission, has proposed the Valley North Project, an approximately 260-mile, 765-kilovolt electric transmission line and associated substations extending from the John Amos Power Plant in Putnam County, West Virginia, through numerous West Virginia counties to Frederick County, Maryland; and
WHEREAS, the proposed route, as presented at public open houses held throughout the summer of 2026, would pass through and affect land in Berkeley County, West Virginia; and
WHEREAS, construction of the Project would require the acquisition of potential new rights-of-way across privately owned land; and
WHEREAS, the placement of 765-kilovolt transmission towers and associated clearing could permanently alter the rural, agricultural, and scenic character of the affected land, diminish property values, farmland, disturb wildlife habitat, and create visual and environmental impacts that cannot be undone once construction occurs; and
WHEREAS, the burden of hosting new transmission infrastructure, easements, and construction impacts would fall on the residents and landowners of Berkeley County and other West Virginia counties along the route, while the primary economic benefit of the Project would accrue to out-of-state load centers and the utilities and developers involved; and
WHEREAS, residents of Berkeley County have expressed significant and widespread concern regarding the Project’s impact on private property, the local environment, and electricity rates, and have called on local and state officials to oppose the Project as proposed; and
WHEREAS, the Berkeley County Commission has a duty to protect the property rights, economic interests, and quality of life of the citizens of this County.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Berkeley County Commission hereby formally opposes the Valley Link Transmission (Valley North) Project as currently proposed.