Offshore wind developer uses eminent domain to take property from 57-year-old funeral home

A Virginia Beach, Virginia, funeral home will lose some of its land to make way for transmission lines supporting an offshore wind farm. 

Dominion Energy is using eminent domain to take land from the 57-year-old Walton Funeral Home. The land will be used for transmission lines that will bring power from the company’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project, WAVY.com reported. 

Frank Walton, the funeral home’s owner, told WAVY that his business didn’t want to stand in the way of the project, but he also didn’t want the funeral home “to be collateral damage,” either. 

“It’s just over a quarter of an acre of the new permanent easement,” said Walton's attorney. “It’s really kind of the heart of the property. It goes right over the parking lot. It goes right off the building.”

A Dominion Energy spokesperson said the infrastructure is “vitally important” to the project, which features 176 turbines located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. 

The project is facing a lawsuit from three conservative groups, arguing that the federal agencies permitting the project had not done an analysis of the cumulative impact of all the offshore wind projects being developed along the East Coasts. The company has denied the project will have any significant impacts on marine life. 

Residents of Virginia Beach have also complained about the project, saying the construction has shaken houses and broken mirrors.