Opponent Of MPRP Calls Final Route ‘Unacceptable.’

The transmission line is proposed to run through Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick Counties.Frederick, Md (KM) The final route for the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project put forward by the  Public Service Enterprise Group is not acceptable, according to an opponent of the project. “Any of the proposed routes, including the final route, is unacceptable,” says Joanne Frederick, the President of the Board of the citizens group Stop MPRP, and one of the founders of the organization. “This will impact a great number of farms and families and lands and homes. So it’s point-blank unacceptable.”The Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project is a proposed, 70-mile long, 500 kilovolt electric transmission line which will be strung up over Baltimore. Carroll and Frederick Counties  PSEG has  presented its final route which takes the line over northern Baltimore County, the middle of Carroll County, and southern Frederick County, including the New Market area, Ijamsville,. Buckeystown and Adamstown, ending at the Doubs substation. The company says it has sent out   about 800 letters to affected property owners about this alignment.Most of the area the line will pass over is agricultural, and Frederick says ii will have impact on farming. “It will impact a farmer’s ability to farm,” she said. “And regardless of what PSEG says. you don’t want to be running a combine under  high voltage power lines.”Along with that, Frederick said it will affect  forested areas. “It will impact conserved forests that have been protected for Maryland. It will impact preserved land that the State of Maryland and the counties in Maryland have spent millions and millions of dollars preserving to protect our rural way of life here, “she says.Frederick owns a farm in Freeland in Baltimore County, and she says this power lien will impact her property “It comes very close to several folks’ homes. mine included. And I’m in contact with some folks in Frederick County whose backyards and forests will be destroyed because of this power line. So wide  reaching impacts,” she says.PSEG has argued that this line is needed to meet the growing power demands of the region. But Frederick disputes that. “It is almost entirely to power data centers,”: she says. “So they can say  all they want. But when you look at the data, the data will tell it’s a very different story.”Now that the final route has been unveiled, Frederick says Stop MPRP will be reaching out to the community to try to bring a stop to this project, and explain how the power line will have an adverse impact on farming, health and real estate values, especially where the line comes over properties. She says local elected officials in all of the three counties and state senators and delegates have expressed their opposition. “And I expect to see a very robust slate of legislation the first day of the General Assembly session in 2025. And I am encouraged that our elected officials are standing up, they’re stepping up to do something about this , and I think we’ll be looking at a very different landscape come 2025.”The Frederick County Council and the County Executive have expressed their opposition to this project.Frederick says Stop MPRP will continue the fight to stop this project. “The change that is needed is to stop this project in its entirety; optimize and improve our system of energy in Maryland; and find new ways to power data centers that don’t take private land and streams and forests and ;farmland and houses,” she said.PSEG will hold public information sessions on this alignment in each of the three affected counties.  The one in Frederick County will be held on Thursday, November 14th, from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM at the New Market District Volunteer Fire Company,. 76 West Main Street, New Market, Maryland.By Kevin McManus