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Frederick H. Hoover, chair of the Maryland Public Service Commission, which said Thursday that it will take until at least February 2027 to complete its review of the controversial Piedmont power line. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
Maryland regulators will take until at least February 2027 before they can issue a final ruling on the proposed Piedmont power line, according to a schedule set Thursday by the Maryland Public Service Commission.
That schedule is almost a year longer than PSEG Renewable Transmission, the New Jersey-based company planning the line, had hoped for. The company had said that the PSC would need to issue its decision by the end of March 2026 in order for it to meet a deadline from the region’s electric grid operator to bring the controversial line in-service by June 2027.
The grid operator, PJM Interconnection, has warned that the 67-mile transmission line is among the projects that are necessary in order for it to avoid power failures such as blackouts amid surging demand, thanks in part to the rise of data centers, particularly in Virginia.
But the PSC said in a news release Thursday, in essence, that the grid can wait while it takes the time needed for it to fully evaluate the project.
“In adopting this schedule that includes a longer timeline than PSEG had requested, the Commission has confidence that PJM, the region’s grid operator, will efficiently maintain the grid during the duration of the Commission’s review of PSEG’s application,” read the statement from the five-member Commission, a five-member commission.
The commissioners also argued that PSEG submitted its application later than expected — on Dec. 31, 2024, rather than in the third quarter of 2024 as originally planned — “leaving less time for the Commission to carry out its review,” the news release said.
At issue is whether or not the commission grants PSEG a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, which would allow them to construct the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project across northern Maryland. In a statement Thursday, the transmission company said that the power line “is a necessary infrastructure project to ensure grid reliability and affordability for Maryland ratepayers.”
“We have received the Public Service Commission’s procedural schedule, and our team is presently conducting a review to determine the appropriate next steps,” wrote William J. Smith, a PSEG spokesperson.
The project, a large transmission line planned to stretch 67 miles through rural parts of Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties, has attracted considerable opposition from residents, who argue that it will tear through natural lands — all in the name of shipping power through the heart of Maryland to a power station near the Virginia border.
In a statement Thursday, Stop MPRP, a coalition formed to protest the project, applauded the schedule proposed by the PSC.
“PSEG asked for a rushed timeline that would have forced a decision by early 2026 — before complete studies of farmland, forests, wetlands, and community impacts could even be done,” the statement read. “The PSC rejected that approach.”
The coalition of property owners and other project opponents have also balked at PSEG’s attempts to conduct land surveys for the project, arguing that the surveys represent the company prematurely invoking eminent domain before it has the approval of Maryland regulators.
Federal courts have so far disagreed. A U.S. District Court judge in Baltimore has issued orders allowing PSEG to go onto the property of uncooperative landowoners to complete its surveys on hundreds of properties. Many landowners have appealed the decision in the ongoing case.
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After the judge’s order, PSEG argued that a handful of landowners were continuing to resist the surveys, and requested back-up from U.S. marshals. But after most of those landowners pledged to allow surveyors onto their property, a judge ruled that the marshals would not be necessary.
The schedule released Thursday calls on PSEG to complete the surveys and submit an updated environmental review for the project by March. Involved parties, including landowners, Maryland’s ratepayer advocate and experts from the Maryland Power Plant Research Program, would file briefs with the PSC by September 2026, followed by two weeks of public hearings in the affected coiunties.
Evidentiary hearings would come in December 2026, and the parties would then submit post-hearing briefs by February 2027. The PSC would make its decision some time after reviewing those briefs, although it isn’t clear how long that could take. The schedule could be amended later for “good cause,” said Tori Leonard, a spokesperson for the PSC.
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