2009
The Chesapeake

Your Two Cents

Transmission Line Campaign—A High Priority for the Sierra Club

by Alana Wase
Transmission lines are not the sexy attention-grabbers like global warming, renewable energy, or energy efficiency. Nonetheless, the issue of transmission lines—to build or not to build—is at the forefront of Maryland environmental issues these days

Letter from Ron Henry, Chair of the Maryland Chapter

by Ron Henry

The Potomac Valley Region of Maryland:

by Matthew Lindberg-Work
Residents of Frederick County have cause for alarm. A proposed new project, PATH (Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline), would dominate many acres of land along a swath running through the southern part of the county.
However, all of us, not just Frederick County residents, have a reason to be concerned about the larger impacts of the proposed PATH project.

Maryland MAPP Would Harm Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore

by Kristin Ricigliano
The Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway (MAPP) is a proposed 150-mile, high-voltage transmission line that would start at Dominion Virginia Power’s coal-powered Possum Point substation in Virginia, traverse the Potomac River into the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant, cross the Chesapeake Bay, and, finally, go through Maryland’s Eastern Shore to Delaware— affecting Charles, Prince George’s, Calvert, Dorchester, and Wicomico counties.

Sierra Club Files Petition to Stop Expanded Coal Use

Most of the electricity used in Maryland is created from coal and sent through transmission lines. Coal is, of course, not renewable. Further, using coal to generate electricity creates emissions of carbon dioxide, a “greenhouse gas.”

Does Maryland Face A Looming Electricity Shortage?

by John Howley
Blackouts! Brownouts! Collapse of the grid! The big coal utilities put on their scariest Halloween masks when telling us why we should pay for more high-voltage transmission projects like MAPP and PATH. They use in-house studies and industry-paid experts to show that the ever-growing “peak demand” for electricity means we have no choice.
It’s really no surprise that the same companies who profit from building and operating interstate transmission lines would conclude that we need more of them. Maryland voters and public officials have good reason to be skeptical of their claims.

Transmission Lines Reduce Regional Wind Energy Development

by Steven Bruckner
Proponents of MAPP and PATH, the two proposed power transmission lines in Maryland, often justify the need for the lines with scary what-if scenarios. What if it’s a hot summer day in July and a piece of the grid goes down? Blackouts. Well, while we’re considering what-if scenarios, what if we built wind farms offshore in the Atlantic Ocean instead of transmission lines that imported coal-fired power to reinforce the region’s energy demand?