MPRP | Sugarloaf Alliance

Owners of property located along the proposed route for high tension power lines (known as MPRP) have received letters from PSEG, the NJ-based company contracted to install the towers and lines. If you have received a letter, please do not respond. Before you do anything, please read the information below.

MASSIVE POWER LINES HERE?

As you've no doubt been reading, the Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) has been contracted to build a new 500,000-volt transmission line across Frederick, Carroll and Baltimore Counties (the so-called Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project or MPRP) to accommodate growing power needs driven primarily by data center development. Read the FAQs from the Maryland Office of People's Counsel here. See news articles here.

The proposed pathway will cut through the Sugarloaf Plan area (see map above).

Property owners along the proposed pathway will receive letters from PSEG. These letters will begin the process of PSEG negotiations for an easement to build the power lines. A coalition of local and regional environmental groups - StopMPRP, Envision Frederick, and the Smarter Growth Alliance of Frederick County (to which Sugarloaf Alliance belongs) - offers the advice below.

IF YOU RECEIVE A LETTER FROM PSEG

If your property is on or near PSEG’s chosen path for the MPRP, you will receive a letter from PSEG asking to negotiate an easement on your land to construct the towers and wires.

It is critical that you do NOT engage with PSEG at this time, in any way.

➔ Receiving a letter from PSEG does NOT mean they can take your land.

➔You have no legal obligation to engage with them or their real estate agents. You do not have to allow PSEG or their agents onto your property.

➔ DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING!

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

PSEG is expected to submit a proposal to the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) by the end of the 2024. They must have PSC approval to move forward, and that could take months or years. Public officials in Frederick County, Carroll County and Baltimore County have opposed MPRP; this is the biggest opposition movement in PSC history. Nonetheless, PSEG will attempt to negotiate for properties in the selected pathway before they have PSC approval. They may suggest to you that the choice is between losing property or losing power.

The true choice is between prioritizing the demands of big tech versus protecting the environmental integrity and the well-being of our community. There are other ways to provide power. When landowners work together, other communities have succeeded against this kind of tech bullying.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

IF YOU RECEIVE A PSEG LETTER, the most effective approach is join together to fight the power line. Please visit the Landowner Resource Hub, where you can:

Let us know that you got a letter by filling out the form at the Resource Hub. This way, we all can share information about what PSEG is doing, saying, and offering to individual owners.
Download the flyer and let your neighbors know about this threat!

EVEN IF YOU DON'T GET A LETTER, please sign up with StopMPRP.com, visit the Resource Hub, share the information, and continue to send your comments to piedmontcomments.psc@maryland.gov