News

Dominion Admits Culpability for Potomac Oil Spill — Last week’s mysterious oil spill that ran from the Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary, down the Potomac past Reagan National Airport, came from a Dominion Power substation in Crystal City. The company is taking responsibility for the mineral oil spill, which killed 21 birds, mostly Canada geese, and prompted a large Coast Guard and Arlington County cleanup response. [Washington Post]

Loverde Issues Statement on Scalia’s Death — Diocese of Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde issued a statement on the passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia over the weekend. Loverde said “we are all deeply saddened” by Scalia’s unexpected death, lauding him as “a man so deeply rooted in his faith, so brilliant in the law and in jurisprudence, so clear and precise in his judicial statements, so wholly committed to his family, so engaging with colleagues and friends, often with great humor.” [Catholic Diocese of Arlington]


News

The power went out as winds whipped up in advance of a brief period of snow around 7:15 p.m. Via Twitter, one resident reported the sound of a likely transformer explosion.

The power outage is affecting residents around Nauck and other areas around S. Glebe Road, south of Columbia Pike in Arlington, and around W. Glebe Road in Alexandria. Residents of Fairlington and other nearby neighborhoods reported that power was flickering around the start of the outage but quickly came back on.


Around Town

On its website, Dominion says it’s investigating the cause of the outage and hopes to have power restored between 4-6 p.m.

Police are monitoring traffic at at least one intersection where traffic lights have gone dark, according to scanner traffic. (Update at 3:10 p.m. — A generator is being used to run the traffic signals at Arlington Blvd and Henderson Road.)


Traffic

As of 1:15 p.m., Lorcom Lane had reopened to traffic, except for the right yield lane from Lee Highway. Crews were on scene fixing the pole.

The cause of the fire may have been a couple wires touching, said a Dominion worker. There were no flames when the worker arrived on scene, but wires can spark, he said.


News

Update on Friday, Aug. 14 — Washington Gas crews were on scene digging up the roadway near the manhole this afternoon. (Photos above.)

A manhole cover “blew up” in Rosslyn Thursday afternoon, and Dominion Power is trying to figure out what exactly happened.


News

A downed power line at S. Chesterfield Road and S. Columbus Street has knocked out power to parts of South Arlington and Alexandria this afternoon.

As of 3:35 p.m., more than 1,200 Dominion customers are reported to be without power in the area. Among the reported outages are homes in the Claremont neighborhood, Claremont Elementary and Wakefield High School, the DMV on Four Mile Run Drive, and numerous traffic lights on Route 7, Four Mile Run Drive and George Mason Drive.


News

The outage is affecting homes around Jamestown Elementary and at least one traffic signal on Glebe Road, according to police scanner traffic.

More than 400 Dominion customers are without electricity in the area, according to Dominion’s power outage map. Across the border in McLean, another 1,300 homes are affected by the outage.


News

Residents in Arlington’s Penrose neighborhood are claiming that recent trimming by Dominion Power contractors injured trees that line the streets.

They are especially concerned with a White Oak tree on the corner of 8th Street S. and S. Veitch Street, which dates back to before the Civil War, said Terri Armao, chair of the Penrose Neighborhood Association’s Environmental Committee.


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