Backlash Erupts: U.S. Marshals Asked To Guard Survey Crews On Data Center Powerline Project

Developers of a controversial 70-mile, 500,000-volt transmission line cutting across three Maryland counties to power data centers in Northern Virginia’s “spy country data center alley” have faced mounting backlash from residents, prompting the project’s backers to request U.S. Marshals to escort survey crews after repeated threats from property owners, according to local media outlet WJZ 13. 

PSEG Renewable Transmission, a New Jersey-based developer, is leading the Piedmont Reliability Project to install 70 miles of high-voltage lines through Baltimore, Carroll, and Frederick counties to supply power to AI data centers and ease strain on the regional grid. 

In a motion filed in federal court last Friday, PSEG detailed new threats against survey teams, including gun violence, unleashed dogs, and an ATV that nearly struck private security guards. Local police and the sheriff’s office declined to intervene, dismissing the confrontations as civil matters.

Residents and local conservation groups strongly oppose the new transmission line, citing threats to private property, destruction of farms, and natural ecosystems, including Gunpowder Falls State Park and Prettyboy Reservoir. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation warns of risks to clean water and wildlife.

A little over a year ago, we first brought national attention to the Piedmont Reliability Project, warning that the “dark side of powering up America for AI data centers” would be potential government land grabs through eminent domain. We documented the mounting frustration of residents, voicing outrage in a Facebook group of more than 10,000, over failed green energy policies pushed by far-left lawmakers in Annapolis that have transformed Maryland’s grid into an epic mess amid the AI data center boom. 

It’s not just land grab threats; residents are suffering from skyrocketing power bills because Democrats in the state went all-in on green, retiring fossil power generation for unreliable solar and wind. Terrible mistake – now working poor and middle-class households are being financially crushed.

We documented it all, from inception July 8, 2024: 

• Dark Side Of ‘The Next AI Trade’: Seizing Private Property For Transmission Lines

• “Please Bring Signs”: Marylanders To Protest AI Data Center Power Lines As Eminent Domain Threatens Small Farms

• Maryland Bill Aims To Protect Farms From Eminent Domain Threat For New AI Data Center Power Lines

The outrage in Maryland is spreading across the Mid-Atlantic to New Jersey, where power bills are exploding due to the combination of failed green policies and the rapid growth of AI data centers.

President Trump Addresses Backfiring Green Policies Sparking Mid-Atlantic Power Bill Crisis https://t.co/IpVKXl6a59

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 19, 2025

This mess is spreading…

Dark Side Of ‘The Next AI Trade’: Welcome To The People’s Revolt https://t.co/a27MHpFtDm

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 9, 2025

It’s time for residents, whether facing eminent domain risk or skyrocketing power bills from failed green policies in the era of AI data centers, to hold their local politicians accountable in the next election cycle.

Marylanders are increasingly recognizing that the de-growth climate crisis agenda promoted by globalist Democrats in Annapolis has significantly impacted the local power grid, leading to power blackout threats (as seen last week), and has forced the state to rely on importing 40% of its power from surrounding states that produce dirty power. What a mess.