Photo courtesy of Mount Vernon Estate
Mount Vernon Estate
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After a campaign by George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate to “Save the View” went national last week, the Estate and Dominion Energy have agreed to work together to find a new location for a needed natural gas compressor.
The proposed project by Dominion Energy was to build a natural gas compressor on land Dominion already owned across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon Estate. By building the Eastern Market Access Project, “Dominion Energy can deliver the additional supplies of natural gas needed by Washington Gas and Mattawoman Energy Center to heat and power homes and businesses in our thriving communities – while lowering carbon emissions,” the company said.
However, Mount Vernon Estate officials were concerned that the stacks from the compressor or emissions from those stacks would be highly visible. In addition, Mount Vernon was concerned about the risk of fire or other environmental damage in the conservation land between the Potomac River and Dominion’s property. Mount Vernon Estate launched a public “Save the View” campaign (more on the campaign is available at www.mountvernon.org/savetheview) and Mount Vernon Estate was placed on a list of national historic sites that are endangered.
A statement on the Mount Vernon Estate’s viewshed campaign page read, “Dominion Energy and George Washington’s Mount Vernon are now working together to find an alternate location for Dominion’s planned Charles Compressor Station, which is a part of the Eastern Market Access Project. As we work towards finding a mutually agreeable solution, we will share more details regarding the new natural gas compressor station location.”
Dominion Energy released a brief statement to Covering the Corridor Monday that said: ““We are working with Mount Vernon to evaluate alternatives to our current plans for Charles compressor station and to resolve the matter amicably.”
Learn more about the Eastern Market Access Project at www.dominionenergy.com/about-us/natural-gas-projects/eastern-market-access-project.
Read more about Mount Vernon and the Dominion Energy project here:
- Mount Vernon Estate Launches ‘Save the View’ Campaign
- Mount Vernon Estate Added to 'Endangered' List of Historic Places
The map below shows the location of Mount Vernon (in pink on the left) and the location of the Dominion Energy property on the other side of the river (in red). The green areas are conservation land.
Courtesy of Mount Vernon Estate
A map of the Mount Vernon Estate viewshed area with the natural gas compressor site marked.
