Power Struggle: Residents worry about environmental impacts, losing their homes if MPRP is built

Yahoo

10-05-2025

This story is part of an occasional series about the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP), a proposed 500,000-volt transmission line to cross three counties, and its potential impacts on people living and working in Frederick County. The project is being developed by the Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG).
Jay and Alicia Weinrich live in a log house off Black Ankle Road in Mount Airy, nestled in trees and tranquility, at the end of a narrow, steep driveway on top of a hill.
Jay is originally from Howard County, and Alicia is from Carroll County. The couple bought their property in Frederick County in 2003 with the intention of building the home they'd live in for the rest of their lives.
With the help of family and friends for more than a year and a half, the couple constructed their house from the ground up, touching all the logs that make the home and staining everything in the basement.
The Weinrichs officially moved into the house in 2005. It's where they raised their son, who has moved away.
Alicia said they chose this property because it's "kind of in the middle of nowhere."
The stars come out at night because the sky is clear, and the view is beautiful, filled with trees and, in the summer, hay when farmers are working the land.
She said deer run across their property and cross over the driveway, drinking from a nearby stream filled with trout. The couple also sees and hears bald eagles frequently.
"This was really our dream — he wanted a log cabin, and I just wanted to have some peace and quiet," she said.
The MPRP could shatter that dream entirely.
MPRP- Jay and Alicia Weinrich
Jay, left, and Alicia Weinrich stand for a portrait at their home in Mount Airy on April 30. In the early 2000s, the couple constructed their log house with the help of their family and friends. Now, the final route of the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP) would cut through their property. If the MPRP is built, the Weinrichs don't know what they'll do, and they're hoping the project doesn't move forward.
Residents like the Weinrichs, as well as farmers and other property owners, are fighting a staunch battle against the project. More than 170 petitions to intervene were submitted to Maryland for an application PSEG submitted for a certificate to build the project.
A petition to intervene is a request to become a formal party in a case and be able to actively participate in the legal process and influence the outcome of a project.
Additionally, a nonprofit called Stop MPRP formed after the project was announced. Its mission is to advocate for people impacted by the project and stop it entirely, and it's a resource many opponents of the MPRP turn to.
The Weinrichs submitted a petition to intervene on Feb. 10. They've never had anyone approach them asking for a right-of-way to build something through the property.
If the MPRP is built, Alicia said, it'll be placed right over the Weinrichs' fence next to their home, cross over their chicken coop and the driveway, and hang over the trout stream at the bottom of the hill the house is on.
What is the MPRP?
The MPRP is slated to be nearly 70 miles long and would go through northern Baltimore County, the middle of Carroll County and parts of Frederick County, ending at the Doubs substation.
The project is meant to help meet anticipated power demands on the regional power grid operated by PJM Interconnection, which coordinates the movement of electricity in 13 states — including all of Maryland — and Washington, D.C.
As part of developing the project, PSEG has applied to the state for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, which would allow the company to build the transmission line should its application be approved.
In addition to the hundreds of properties in the route's path, there are 58 parcels that PSEG added to its application as possible places for access roads, which the company would use while constructing the MPRP.
PSEG spokesperson Bill Smith said that it's possible for the MPRP route to be adjusted or changed during the application process.
Smith said that PSEG has "engaged with residents and property owners to address their concerns regarding agriculture, safety and property values" since the MPRP was announced and will continue to do so.
He also said PSEG does not have eminent domain rights — a governmental power to seize private property for public use with just compensation — without its certificate application being approved.
On April 15, PSEG filed a request for a court order to gain temporary access to properties on or along the MPRP route to conduct environmental and field studies as part of its certificate application.
MPRP route and county outlines
Alicia said she estimates 50% of the trees on her property will be cut down for the project. The stream will get too hot, killing all the trout.
"I'll be able to stand there at my kitchen sink and see the top post holding wires," she said. "And then, to top it off, that beautiful view that I have — this will all be gone because they're taking out all of my trees."
The couple said when PSEG first proposed multiple routes for the MPRP, there were three in the general area of their home. Only one of those routes — the one that was ultimately picked — cut through the Weinrichs' property.
The couple attended one of PSEG's public information sessions it held after the final MPRP route was announced. Jay said he also sent letters to many Maryland elected officials sharing the couple's story.
Jay said he feels like all the discussion about the project is about the farms people are losing, but not about anyone else.
MPRP- Jay and Alicia Weinrich
Alicia, left, and Jay Weinrich pose together outside at their home in Mount Airy on March 20. The Weinrichs moved into the log house in 2005 after building it with the help of family and friends. Now, they are worried how the MPRP will affect their property and the environment around them.
"There was very little discussion about those of us that just have a home on five acres. It was all about farmland," he said. "I felt like we were kind of the forgotten ones."
For Alicia, the MPRP poses a unique health risk. She has a spinal cord stimulator, a medical device that sends low-level electric pulses into her spinal cord to relieve pain.
When she goes to a doctor's office and cautery tools are used to stop bleeding, she has to turn the stimulator off because otherwise, it'll start shocking her. It could also turn off improperly and may not come back on.
If one tool can cause that, she wonders what would happen if she were living under a 500,000-volt transmission line.
"What's that going to do to my back? Is it going to shut my spinal cord stimulator off completely? I just don't know," Alicia said.
The Weinrichs don't know what they'll do if the MPRP is built. Right now, they're just hoping it doesn't move forward at all — they've told people who asked to enter the property to evaluate it to not come.
Just the thought of having the transmission line on the property, Alicia said, "makes me want to just run."
MPRP- Jay and Alicia Weinrich
Shown through a window, Alicia and Jay Weinrich stand for a portrait with their dogs at their home in Mount Airy on April 30. In the early 2000s, the couple constructed their log house with the help of their family and friends. Now, the final route of the MPRP would cut through their property. If the MPRP is built, the Weinrichs don't know what they'll do, and they're hoping the project doesn't move forward.
MPRP- Jay and Alicia Weinrich
Jay, left, and Alicia Weinrich pose together with DeDe inside their home in Mount Airy on March 20. The Weinrichs moved into the log house in 2005 after building it with the help of family and friends. Now, they are worried how the MPRP will affect their property and the environment around them.
Margie and Steve Schroeder
Margie and Steve Schroeder live on and own a 25-acre parcel of land off Ijamsville Road. Their home has a room with windows for walls where the sunlight spills in and the couple can look out at a sprawling field.
MPRP- Steve and Margie Schroeder
Margie, left, and Steve Schroeder pose together in the sun room of their home on March 27. They built the house's sun room as an add-on to the home to get a better view of the outdoors. This year marks their 50th year living in the home. All of the routes PSEG proposed for the MPRP cut through the Schroeders' property.
The property was originally a 220-acre parcel where the first settler of Ijamsville, Plummer Ijams, built a plantation, according to the Schroeders.
Over time, the parcel has been divided up, and several of the Schroeders' family members — like their daughter, nephew and grandchildren — live on other pieces of the land.
Margie said her father bought the entire property in 1950. He was a lawyer working in Washington, D.C., but he always had wanted to run a farm.
When she was a child, she did chores on her family's dairy farm, and the family also owned horses and hunted foxes.
Margie met Steve while attending college in North Carolina, and when the couple moved to Frederick County after Steve finished dental school, Margie's father gave them the land where their house now stands.
This year marks their 50th year living there.
The couple's nephew, Josh Nicodemus, owns the family farm to the west of their home, and their daughter and grandchildren live in another house built on a giant parcel. Margie's sister also lives in a tenant house on the land.
Since the family lives so close to each other, it's common for the grandchildren to walk over to see the Schroeders. They love to sled on the field when it's blanketed in snow in the winter.
If the MPRP gets built, the route would put the line over the Schroeders' pool and into the woods, requiring trees to be removed for the right-of-way.
MPRP- Steve and Margie Schroeder
Cousins James Duncan, 14, left, and Sawyer Smith, 11, play in the pool at Margie and Steve Schroeder's home on April 30. If the MPRP is built, the line would go over the Schroeders' pool and into the woods.
All of the routes PSEG presented for the MPRP would've gone through the Schroeders' property.
Margie said the couple's worst case scenario is that they could lose their house. Even if the power line is put farther out toward the field next to the home, it would divide the acreage and separate the Schroeders from the rest of their family.
The consequences of the MPRP on the family range in severity. Margie said her daughter won't feel comfortable walking over to the Schroeders' house if she and her grandchildren will go under a power line.
Nicodemus may not want to farm anymore. Margie said the MPRP would cut the field in half and prevent him from using a chunk of the land.
Margie said the MPRP wouldn't devastate their livelihood the way it could hurt people with farms along the MPRP route, but it would still notably impact her and her husband.
Over the past several decades, many developers have approached the Schroeders to buy the field by the house.
Margie said the couple would never sell the land unless there was a "catastrophic event" where they needed those funds.
She doesn't think they would be able to move, because their property value would tank and nobody would want to buy it.
Margie and Steve built the house's sun room as an add-on to the original building specifically so they could see the nature that they've enjoyed for so long.
They are concerned there could be a point in the future when eminent domain rights are used to obtain their land.
"We wish that they would actively pursue other ways to power the data centers and think about the impact on the residents," Margie said.
"... I know other people have had horrible things done for progress and for the public good and eminent domain. I know it's been used other places, but it's when it affects you, you think, 'Oh my God, how can I live in the United States of America?'"
MPRP- Steve and Margie Schroeder
Margie Schroeder, left, sits next to her sister Victoria Nicodemus at the Schroeders' household on April 30. The Schroeders' 25-acre parcel of land is part of a larger parcel of land that is divided among several of the Schroeders' family members. Victoria lives across the field on the parcel. Since the family members live close together, it is common for them to walk across the field to the Schroeders' home. But, if the MPRP is built, Margie said family members wouldn't feel comfortable walking under the power lines.
MPRP- Steve and Margie Schroeder
Cousins Sawyer Smith, 11, and James Duncan, 14, drive through a field behind Margie and Steve Schroeder's home on April 30. Several of the Schroeders' family members live by the field and own parts of the parcel of land. Margie said that if the MPRP is put farther out in the field, it would divide the acreage and separate the Schroeders from the family.
Betsy and Mike McFarland
Betsy and Mike McFarland's house in Adamstown overlooks Bennett Creek, a tributary to the Monocacy River, and they can hear the frequent chitter and songs of wildlife outside their windows.
Betsy McFarland can list many different animals she's seen since she and her husband moved to Frederick County almost 20 years ago from Rockville.
Those animals include a black bear, bald eagles, reptiles, frogs, a snapping turtle and wild turkeys. She remembers watching the snapping turtle's eggs hatch, and the newborns headed down to Bennett Creek.
McFarland said the couple wanted to be somewhere rural, since they both love animals and nature. The house is tucked away at the very end of a road, and in the summer time, "you feel like you're in the middle of the jungle."
"As we settled in, I was like 'This is the house I'll die in.' I'm so happy to be here. I love this place," she said. "Now, of course, it's all threatened."
MPRP- Betsy and Mike McFarland
Shown through the reflection of a mirror, Betsy McFarland looks out of a window where a Stop MPRP sign stands outside at the McFarlands' home in Adamstown on April 7. The Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP) would cut through the middle of Betsy and Mike McFarland's property. If the project is built, Betsy doesn't think she and her husband would want to stay in their home.
The MPRP would cut through the middle of the McFarlands' property. They own nearly three acres of land, and a quarter acre of what they own is on the other side of Bennett Creek.
McFarland said a power line tower would be built west of their property, and power lines would go past the couple's back patio and over the creek.
Like other residences in wooded areas along the project route, trees would have to be cut down so the power lines can be built. For the McFarlands, the right-of-way is supposed to go between their house and Bennett Creek.
If the project is built, McFarland doesn't think she and her husband would want to stay in their home.
"It's really thrown our plans into a loop. We were planning to stay here through retirement," she said. "Now, we're really wondering what's going to happen, and we've put everything on hold."
The McFarlands have ignored attempts from PSEG to contact them, including an offer of $1,000 from the company if the couple agreed to give PSEG permission to survey the property.
MPRP- Betsy and Mike McFarland
A document sent to Betsy and Mike McFarland is shown at the McFarlands' home in Adamstown on April 7. The MPRP would cut through the middle of their property. This document from the Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) offers $1,000 for a temporary right-of-entry to the property.
McFarland said she wanted to live somewhere that was safe from development. Since part of this property is designated as a floodplain by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, she thought it was safe.
She's worried about how the MPRP will impact the environment and the rich wildlife. It "seems insane" that a company could come in, take down trees and build power lines through an environmentally sensitive area, she said.
Additionally, she said, the county government's discussions about how to regulate the data center industry and development are intertwined with the MPRP.
She said she recognizes the need for data centers and creating support for that industry — but there are other solutions available to power those facilities that isn't building a transmission line across Maryland.
"Anybody who says this is just for, 'Oh, we gotta stop rolling blackouts,' whatever, I don't buy it for a second," she said. "... There's a lot of different ways this could be done. They're just pushing their way because it's best for that company, and that also makes me livid."
McFarland is the chair of Stop MPRP's advocacy and outreach committee and shared the potential consequences to her home in the nonprofit's short documentary, "Unyielding Ground: The Fight Against the MPRP."
She's also submitted a petition to intervene and has attended public meetings in all three counties.
"There's only so many mountains you'll die on, but for me, this is one of them, and I'm going to fight this as much as I have to because I care about it," McFarland said. "I care about Frederick County, not just my own house."
MPRP- Betsy and Mike McFarland
Betsy and Mike McFarland stand outside at their home in Adamstown, which overlooks Bennett Creek, on April 7. The MPRP would cut through the middle of the McFarlands' property. Betsy is worried how the MPRP will impact the environment and the wildlife.