Gov. Wes Moore has 'grave concerns' about Maryland power line project

Lily Carey, The Baltimore Sun on Oct 10, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

BALTIMORE — As the debate over the controversial Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project escalates to federal court, Gov. Wes Moore’s office said the governor continues to have “grave concerns” about the transmission line.

Moore’s communications director, David Turner, said in a statement Thursday that the governor “will continue to demand a fair, transparent and community-focused process” to transmission line planning.

“While the administration recognizes the need for the infrastructure needed to ensure grid reliability and affordability for a growing economy, which includes increasing demand from data centers, the governor believes any approach must put the people of Maryland first,” the statement reads.

Officials in Carroll County, however, criticized Moore at the Board of Commissioners’ meeting Thursday morning for not taking more “decisive action” on the transmission line and the related litigation.

“We need to see more action on this from the governor’s office, and we need to see it now, and it’s not happening,” said Commissioner Michael Guerin, who represents southwest Carroll County.

Ken Kiler, the president of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners who also lives along the proposed MPRP route, said he’s worried that Carroll’s messages to Moore asking for help are “falling on deaf ears” because the governor “supports climate change and shutting down energy-producing items.” Maryland has been closing fossil fuel-based power plants and plans to replace them with renewable energy.

In the statement from Moore’s office, which came after the meeting, Turner notes that Kiler himself “commended the governor for his in-person engagement” when Moore visited Carroll County last month.

“[Moore] has taken decisive action by meeting directly with PJM leadership to express these concerns and by co-signing a letter with other governors urging a more collaborative approach to transmission planning,” the statement reads.

MPRP is a proposed transmission line that’s seeking state approval to run for 67 miles through Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties, carrying electricity across the state and ultimately to northern Virginia. Utility company PSEG and electric grid operator PJM Interconnection say the project is necessary to prevent electric grid instability in Maryland, a state that produces only 60% of the energy it consumes.

But landowners who live along the transmission line’s proposed route have challenged PSEG’s ability to use eminent domain to gain access to land for the transmission line, which doesn’t yet have government approval and likely won’t get it until 2027. Over 150 of these landowners appealed two of PSEG’s eminent domain lawsuits in a federal court of appeals, and opponents of MPRP have told The Baltimore Sun that they’re willing to take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Since the transmission line was first proposed in 2024, Moore has spoken out against it several times, calling on electricity companies for a more responsible approach to building new energy infrastructure.

In September, Moore visited Carroll County landowners who live along the transmission line’s proposed route and listened to their concerns. Landowners who were in attendance later told The Sun that they felt Moore was behind them in the federal appeals case.

In Baltimore County, public officials feel that “the Governor has been an ally and has engaged with our office on the matter,” Dakarai Turner, press secretary for the Baltimore County executive’s office, said in an email.

But at the Carroll County Board of Commissioners’ meeting Thursday morning, county leaders said Moore has not “taken decisive action” to stop the transmission line, and said they wanted to see “more conviction from the state” on the issue.

“What frustrates me, though, is that at the state level, particularly the governor, he has stated time and time again that he’s opposed to it, but has he?” Guerin said. “People get that impression, but it still is my firm conviction that if the governor of the state of Maryland was opposed to MPRP, things would change overnight. And that’s certainly not the case.”

Guerin also said that Carroll County is “leading the charge” on opposing the transmission line, and that “Baltimore County and Frederick County cannot say that.”

Turner, the Baltimore County executive’s press secretary, noted that all three counties have legally intervened in the MPRP case.

“The County filed a petition to intervene in the matter — and the petition was granted,” Turner wrote.

------------