PARKTON, Md. — One proposed route for the 500,000 volt power line cuts through Brandon Troy’s farm in Parkton, and in spite of the wetlands and historic buildings in its path, Troy says no one has shown up to take a closer look.
“Nothing at all,” said Troy, “From what I understand from them is their engineers basically just drew out a map on a piece of paper to do the best route that made the most economical sense for them that went around a lot of lots and houses and obviously it’s going to take it through a lot of preserved farm ground to do that.”
This week, the Maryland Farm Bureau officially announced its opposition to the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, which would carve out room for a 70-mile-long transmission line.
The Farm Bureau says the transmission lines could impact dozens of its members and could put 1,300 acres of farmland at risk.
It argues development has already wiped out thousands of acres in recent years cutting into the local food supply.
Property owners have openly questioned the need to cut a new path when one already exists.
“Why wouldn’t that be a lesser impact where the power line already exists than to have a whole new swath?” one such owner asked Project Director Jason Kalwa at an informational meeting in Hereford a few months ago.
“Because this requires a new swath based on the amount of electricity needed,” responded Kalwa, “A new line is needed so a new swath is needed.”
But Troy says State Senator Chris West has suggested what he calls a win-win solution by just replacing the existing lines.
“The conductors we have are from the 1960s that run through farms already. Why don’t you just re-conductor them to carry twice the voltage or kilowatts, whatever they call it, I’m not an electrician, out to there? He says it could work,” explained Troy, “I mean he’s a politician. He might not know anything, but it’s something that needs to be looked into."
Project coordinators have balked at such an idea, claiming the grid could not withstand taking down the existing line to replace it, but supporters of the idea say it’s being done successfully in other states.
