Sugarloaf Alliance
Preservation * Smarter Growth * Transparency in Government
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.
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. Read the latest Frederick News Post article here.
The proposed pathway will cut through the Sugarloaf Plan area (see map above). Note: This is not an interactive map. Go to the PSEG site to see an interactive map, where you can enlarge the image to get a. closer look at streets and affected properties.
Property owners within the proposed pathway have received letters from PSEG. These letters began 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.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
PSEG 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.
