Maryland residents appeal approved property access for controversial power line project
On June 20, New Jersey-based developer PSEG Renewable Transmission was granted permission for surveyors to be on properties to assess the project.
The power lines would go through Baltimore, Carroll, and Frederick counties.
The project would construct 500,000-volt overhead power lines that would connect to an existing transmission line in parts of Maryland.
According to PSEG, Maryland will face an increased energy deficit and power grid congestion if capacity does not increase.
Filing submitted to survey properties
In April, despite pushback from Maryland property owners, PSEG submitted a court filing that would force residents to allow surveyors onto their land.
The developer said surveying must be complete before proceeding with the construction.
PSEG's Temporary Right to Entry filing asked the court to allow the surveying of 91 properties for the project.
Maryland property owners fight back
Landowners and lawyers say the proposed project could have negative environmental impacts and would impede personal property.
"It's going to start at the top of my hill, take out that forest there, which is an old-growth oak forest," landowner Brandon Hill said. "It's going to cut across my field here, render this whole field here not usable."
"For a project that really doesn't help the grid, that really impacts their properties without great benefit to Maryland," added attorney Susan Euteneuer.
Some residents told WJZ that the power lines would cut through family-owned farms.
A faith-based youth camp and outdoor education center in Carroll County said the project would jeopardize the camp experience that they provide to guests, since the transmission line would go through their property.
Hereford resident Janet Stratton said her farm, which has been passed down for six generations, is in the path of the proposed transmission line.
"I realized my childhood dream 30 years ago," Stratton said. "To have it taken away would be devastating."
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) said the project poses risks to the bay's habitat and water quality.
The CBF found that the project has the potential to damage protected forests, nutrient-rich wetlands, and sources of clean water.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
15 hours ago
- CBS News
Johns Hopkins students invent braille label printer for local brewery & visually impaired workers
A group of engineering students at Johns Hopkins University put their invention skills to work and delivered by building a printer that can add braille to beer labels. It's a tool that can also be operated by blind or visually impaired people. This isn't an ordinary beer can label. It comes from a machine that can print beer can labels in braille. And a team of students made it happen. "On our team this year. It was myself, Catherine, and then my other teammates were Sophia, Gabriella, and Crystal, and we're all seniors, or we were all seniors in the Johns Hopkins mechanical engineering department," said Catherine Pollard, a recent mechanical engineering graduate of Johns Hopkins University. Pollard explained that she spent part of her last semester creating this one-of-a-kind braille beer can label printer for Blind Industries & Services of Maryland (BISM). "We said, can you come up with an automated process to feed a roll of labels through a printer and put the Braille on that label exactly where we need it," asked Mike Gosse, the president of BISM, the state's largest employer of blind and low-visioned workers. "But how do we put Braille on other packaging and particularly cylindrical objects? We needed to do this, partly for our upcoming braille beer event, where we wanted to have a braille label on our beer can." The students took a few months to design and build a machine capable of punching braille text into plastic beer labels as well as card stock, glossy mailers, and other materials that commercial braille-friendly printers can't do. Pollard and her team also developed the software that allows a printer to communicate with a braille word processor, which the nonprofit can use in its office to create plastic labels. "Our goals for the project were defined by the requirements that we had. So there were a few applications that BISM wanted to use the printer in. One of these was printing rolls of labels. Another one was printing large sheets of paper," explained Pollard. A printer for the visually impaired Not only are the labels printed in braille, but the students designed it so that BISM employees with no or low vision can operate it. "But we wanted to have an automated process and a more accessible process, where you didn't have to be sighted to line up the label," said Gosse. "Accessibility means that blind people can go out and you can do almost every job that a sighted person can do, and that's why we want to make sure that when we think about everything we do here at BISM." "I think we delivered something that would improve their lives, and that's not something that you always get to see on the time scale of one year,' said Pollard. According to Johns Hopkins, the students have already printed 400 labels for Blind Spot, a beer crafted by Baltimore's own Checkerspot Brewing Company in collaboration with BISM as part of an annual fundraiser for those with vision loss. The new printer will save BISM employees from having to use a manual press to punch braille dots into more than 1,000 labels for their next fundraising event in 2026.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Marriott Seen as High-Quality Asset-Light Compounder with Limited Upside: JPMorgan
Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) ranks among the best cyclical stocks to buy now. On June 23, JPMorgan began coverage of Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) with a Neutral rating and a $284 price target. The bank describes Marriott as a 'high-quality, asset-light compounder' with appealing higher-end chain-scale and customer exposure, indicating that it possesses a balanced risk/reward profile. DoublePHOTO studio/ Marriott's current value of 14.5x 2026E EV/EBITDA, according to JPMorgan, appropriately accounts for these favorable features, indicating limited upside potential at current levels. The firm cites a number of reasons for Marriott's 1.5–2x discount over its competitor Hilton since late 2023, including the fact that Marriott's average net room growth has been lower at 5% as opposed to Hilton's 6-7% growth. Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) is a Maryland-based multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging including hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. The company operates a portfolio of roughly 7,800 properties under 30 leading brands, spanning 138 countries. While we acknowledge the potential of MAR as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. Read More: and Disclosure: None. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announces new energy assistance benefits
BALTIMORE — Households in Maryland struggling with rising utility costs will receive increased energy assistance benefits this year, Maryland Governor Wes Moore announced Thursday. The expanded aid comes from increased appropriations for the Strategic Energy Investment Fund, which is a state reserve made up of fines paid by utility companies for falling short of renewable energy requirements. Electric assistance will now range from $250 to $1,000 per household — up from a maximum of $575 last year. Gas benefits will rise from last year's maximum of $300 to between $300 and $550. 'At a time when the federal government is passing dangerous, heartless legislation to cut assistance for working families, we are standing in the breach,' Moore said in a release. 'We will not waver in our work to protect our people and leave no one behind.' Households already enrolled in SNAP, SSI, TANF or income-based veterans benefits are automatically eligible for the benefits. As of May, over 156,000 households have applied for energy assistance this fiscal year, with over 117,000 approved, according to the release. ------------
