Citizens Rally to Stop MPRP Power Lines Across Northern Maryland
More than 1500 citizens turned out for two public hearings regarding a new proposed 70 mile high-power electric transmission line called the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP). The meetings on July 9 and July 10 in Baltimore County and Carroll County respectively were allegedly to discuss routes for the new electric lines and to hear public comment.
The format of the meetings did not facilitate information sharing or public input. There were no company speakers or government officials and the meeting was not in a “town hall format” that most attendees anticipated. Citizens were left on their own to make their way through the crowd to a table where a company representative may or may not be able to answer their questions. For example, there was a table with enlarged maps of the proposed routes, but one could not determine where the routes were relative to one’s property. To do that, the representative referred you to an online address which could not be reached. However a community organizer provided a link to the map where one can locate one’s property in relation to proposed routes. The routes are tentative and subject to change.
There was a table with paper to solicit handwritten comments, but no representative was at the table and no drop-box was provided to collect the comments. The event seemed by design to undermine information sharing and public feedback.
Attendees were frustrated and angry about the sham “hearings”. Upon leaving, a farmer and his wife initiated a sign up list to organize community action. Within days of the meeting, farm owner, Joanne Frederick, founded a grassroots non-profit called Stop MPRP, created an organizational infrastructure, outlined the mission and values, initiated a membership drive, began a fundraising drive on GoFundMe and created a website at www.stopmprp.com. Ms. Frederick envisions Stop MPRP as an umbrella organization to unite residents and similarly aligned organizations to work collaboratively to protect and preserve land across Maryland and to defeat the MPRP.
Who Would the Powerline Benefit and at Whose Expense?
The $424 million electric line construction project awarded to the Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) is allegedly to promote development in the I-270 corridor and DC metropolitan area. This would be at the expense of Baltimore and Carroll county residents who have nothing to gain. They may have their property confiscated, livelihoods threatened, and landscape defaced in addition to environmental and safety concerns.
The project is not inevitable and PSEG must get approval of the proposed route from the Maryland Public Service Commission’s Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. Things are moving quickly so it is imperative that citizens come together now to save Maryland farms and families. For more information and to get involved, go to www.stopmprp.com.