When PSEG, the contractor selected by grid authority PJM to roll out the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, unveiled its plan to build the nearly 70-mile-long powerline across the state to support the regional grid, the local outrage was immense. Organizations like Stop MPRP immediately sprang up and attempted to organize grassroots resistance to the plan. Community presentations from PSEG were tense and fraught with confusion. The core of the resistance was rooted in frustrated landowners concerned about encroachment on their personal property and the potential use of eminent domain.
Central to the frustration was a persistent lack of government policy leadership on the matter. PSEG officials were evasive about which “state-level” stakeholders were involved. Gov. Wes Moore’s office was largely quiet on the matter during the initial debate around the project, eventually expressing specific concerns about community involvement in the planning and local impact, while stopping short of outright opposing PSEG’s plan for the power line. Broader political engagement from state officials, seemingly reluctant to take credit (or blame) for either greenlighting or obstructing the project, was tepid at best.
With so much time having passed without state leadership taking an active role in the process, it’s little wonder local resistance to the MPRP coalesced around grassroots, community-led organizations, leading to a far more emotionally charged movement. Residents channeled energy away from procedural and political resistance and leaned into more personalized expressions of defiance.
With state leadership absent, there was no mediator between representatives of PSEG and the residents of Carroll, Frederick and Baltimore counties dead set on stopping the power line from cutting through their communities. That’s been a recipe for a volatile situation that has raised anxieties that the worst-case scenario might come to fruition: violence between property owners and PSEG surveyors.
Frustrated property owners have openly vowed to deny access to their private property. In response, PSEG has sought police protection, including U.S. Marshals, for its surveyors as they venture onto private property, but in Carroll County, local law enforcement refused to allocate resources to escort surveyors. The tense and emotional nature of the confrontation has MPRP officials so concerned that they recently requested a judicial order to ban property owners from hunting on their own property during survey times, after commenters posted online threats to “hunt” surveyors.
PSEG’s employees deserve to feel safe from threats to their lives as they go about their work. Property owners deserve to be able to use their land freely and be able to effectively advocate for their interests. Clearly, neither side benefits from this state of affairs. The situation is chaotic, confusing and completely unnecessary. A persistent pattern of neglect and political prevarication leaves owners feeling they have to resort to more drastic measures to protect their property. One of the main functions of government is to stand in as an alternative to emotional human responses, to prevent situations just like this.
Maryland has long struggled with a hyper-fragmented energy policy infrastructure. The confusing and convoluted nature of this process invites the disorder we are witnessing with MPRP. Property owners impacted by the MPRP should have the undivided attention of Maryland’s executive branch to offer legitimate avenues to speak out against the project. Now that the situation has become so emotionally charged, judicial intervention may be required to curb the risk of reckless actions. State leadership should immediately engage with the grassroots organizers and make a decision about how to address the MPRP. Only then can we see whether cooler heads will prevail.
Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.
