The Baltimore Sun recently carried an article about the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (“Maps: See potential paths of Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project power lines,” Sept. 17). As a resident of Carroll County, specifically New Windsor, I do not see the need for this large-scale project, as the hill west of South Carroll High School is a high-efficiency solar farm and more of these can be implemented in the rolling hills of the surrounding area without interfering with farmland and local ecosystems.
There was also mention of unaffiliated parties attempting to buy land from local farmers and property owners. There are many reasons for why someone would do this. It could simply be a scam. However, this could also be a plan to prevent the project from ever coming to fruition by buying the land and never selling it back. Or these prospective buyers could be attempting to buy the land to sell it back to the project at a heightened price.
Either way, the project itself seems wholly unnecessary and will only dent the ecological and economic wellbeing of the surrounding area. This would also solely benefit the richer benefactors while hurting middle class workers in the area…