Frederick County Council Adopts Resolution Opposing Md. Piedmont Reliability Project

The vote was unanimous.Councilman Steve  McKayFrederick, Md (KM A resolution in opposition to the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project was approved unanimously Tuesday night by the Frederick County Council. That’s a 70-mile long, 500 kilovolt electric transmission line, . It’s expected to travel through northern Baltimore County, Central Carroll County, and end at the Doubs substation in Adamstown in Frederick County.The resolution calls on the Maryland Public Service Commission to reject the application from the Public Service Enterprise Group which has been tasked with building the line by PJM, the regional power grid manager. It also calls on PSEG to use existing rights of way to build the power line, and not  travel over private property, many of it farmland.The resolution was drafted by Councilman Steve McKay, who made a few changes to the original draft. “First, I deleted the clause which was a conditional statement if the PSC approves the application. And then added the specific offices that we would a seek a study from through the County Executive,” he said.  Those agencies are the Office of Agriculture, the Division of Planning and Permitting, and the Division of Energy and the Environment.McKay also said he was not inserting a clause about improving the resiliency the electric lines. “I have strong doubts that this plan is actually being done for the purpose of resiliency or result with resiliency improvements,” he said. “And also just didn’t want to include that in a resolution in opposition.”Councilwoman MC Keegan-Ayer said this project is getting a lot of  attention among lawmakers in the Maryland General Assembly. “There are at least four other bills introduced on this topic, and there are more coming,” she saidThere’s one bill dealing with a rather controversial topic for many landowners. “There’s a second bill in Annapolis dealing with transmission lines, and whether eminent domain can be used in the case of transmission lines,” says Keegan-Ayer.PSEG has not ruled using eminent domain, or condemning the property it needs  to build the line.With this resolution, McKay says Frederick County can now petition to intervene when the PSC considers this project. “Carroll County submitted their petition to intervene two days ago,” he said.Councilmembers had signed letters in opposition to the project in  the past,, but this is the first time they’ve approved a resolution against the MPRP.By Kevin McManus