Hunting should not overlap with Piedmont power line surveys, Maryland judge rules

by Christine Condon, Maryland Matters
November 26, 2025

A federal judge in Baltimore ruled Wednesday that hunting should not be allowed to occur in the vicinity of surveyors while they conduct environmental studies for a proposed power line across rural parts of Central Maryland.

But in his order, Judge Adam B. Abelson said the restriction won’t take effect right away. He ordered the power line company, New Jersey-based PSEG Renewable Transmission, to coordinate with impacted landowners to develop a procedure for the hunting season that will “ensure the safety of PSEG’s surveyors while minimizing the intrusion upon Respondents’ rights to hunt on their properties.” The two side are to report back by Dec. 3.

Abelson’s ruling comes one day after a contentious hearing in Baltimore’s U.S. District Court between the two parties over hunting — and just a few days before the popular rifle hunting season for white-tailed deer is set to begin. It runs from Saturday through Dec. 13.

In his order, Abelson argued that neither the landowners nor the power company were perfectly in the right.

The power company wanted to ban hunting on any days when surveying might occur, but noted that it would attempt to make exceptions for landowners who reached out to share their hunting plans.

They argued that a blanket ban was needed because some landowners are not communicative, and others have made violent threats toward surveyors in the past. The Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, as the proposed line is known, has attracted considerable ire from residents in its path, who have pushed hard against its construction.

But attorneys for the landowners said that PSEG routinely issues notices to property holders that it could survey any time during a two-week period. If hunting were banned during that entire stretch, landowners could lose a substantial part of the hunting season, they argued.

On that point, Abelson agreed with the landowners.

“The Court concludes that hunting should be prohibited in areas where surveyors are working while a survey is occurring,” Abelson wrote in his order. “PSEG has not shown a basis for restricting hunting on non-survey days during the notice period.”

In a statement Wednesday, StopMPRP, a coalition of opponents that includes some of the landowners in the suit, said that Abelson’s ruling shows that PSEG is overreaching.

“The Court’s clarification today makes one thing unmistakably clear: this developer is pushing far beyond what Maryland’s laws and processes were designed to allow. PSEG continues to demand access to private land for a project that the State of Maryland has not approved, forcing families to absorb the consequences long before the Public Service Commission has completed its review.

The landowners argued that Abelson shouldn’t place any hunting restrictions at all, and that for many of them hunting is not just a sport, but is a way put food on the table and protect crops from ravenous deer. They argued that surveyors should wear bright colored orange or pink hunting gear, and that PSEG should give landowners 72 hours of notice about where and when they intend to survey, to allow hunters to prepare.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

SUPPORT

But Abelson determined that solution would not do enough to protect the surveyors, who have a right to complete the studies, which will inform the Maryland Public Service Commission’s final decision on the proposed power line. Abelson did, however, require surveyors to wear the brightly-colored clothing during surveys that overlap with any Maryland hunting season.

PSEG spokesperson Bill Smith said in a statement that the “safety of our surveyors and property owners is our top priority.”

“We appreciate the Court’s careful consideration of our request to clarify the preliminary injunction,” Smith said. “PSEG remains committed to open communication and coordination with property owners. We will continue to provide timely notice of survey activities and work collaboratively to minimize disruption.”

Abelson’s order also requires the opposing parties to submit, by Dec. 3, either joint or competing proposals for “how to effectuate” the hunting prohibitions “including timelines and specific information each party should be communicating to one another in order to limit hunting only to the extent necessary to protect the surveyors’ safety.”

“In the meantime, PSEG should continue coordinating with Respondents who reach out to provide them with information as to minimize the intrusion upon the use of their properties,” Abelson wrote.

— This story was updated to include PSEG’s statement.

Order Granting Motion

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.