Farm owners across Maryland are reckoning with a proposed transmission line that would cut through their properties to support artificial intelligence data centers.

What's happening?

As NBC News reported, the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project is a planned $424 million project to build a 67-mile transmission line across three Maryland counties to meet the rising demand for artificial intelligence. 

However, since its announcement, farmers and landowners have been facing off with land surveyors and PJM Interconnection, the electricity provider for Maryland, over the impact that the line would have on their farms and community.

"It's going to financially devastate us," Lisa Gaver, who operates a farm that serves tens of thousands each year with pumpkins for Halloween, trees for Christmas, and more, told the publication. "There's $4 million worth of inventory in this field."

"We literally are fighting the unknown here," Carroll County farmer Melvin Baile told the outlet. "It's really scary." 

Baile is worried that the transmission lines could interfere with aircraft, including drones and helicopters, that farmers use to fight disease and fungi.

The farmers in these affected counties are also worried that the transmission lines could increase their insurance premiums, drive away business, and take away their land.

"People are scared," said Frederick County councilman Steve McKay. "It brings people to tears. It makes others angry — the notion that this out-of-state firm is going to come in and potentially be given the authority by eminent domain to take land."

"It's hard to say, 'I worked and built this up for 43 years and someone's just going to walk in and destroy it as a land grab for out-of-state corporations,'" said Gaver. "It's devastating."

Why are transmission lines for AI important?

There is a big surge in AI from both public and private groups hoping to take advantage of the boom of the technology. 

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In 2024 alone, there was $37 billion spent by private groups on AI infrastructure, according to Stanford University data shared by Reuters. 

Now, CNBC noted the U.S. government is launching the U.S. Tech Force to collaborate with large companies to fund and build infrastructure projects. 

According to ABI Research, another 2,200-plus data centers will be built worldwide by 2030.

The amount of energy required for AI will grow by twice as much by 2030, requiring new transmission lines to meet this demand and limit brownouts and blackouts. 

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, blackouts could increase a hundredfold in the next five years if projects like these aren't built.

However, discussions on whether AI is valuable enough to warrant these projects are becoming more heated, including in Maryland. 

Proponents of AI argue that artificial intelligence can optimize renewable energy systems and better track global emissions, helping reduce air pollution. 

Opponents argue that AI can generate electronic waste, take water away from communities, pollute water and soil, and consume natural resources.

What's being done about the proposed transmission line project?

According to NBC News, farmers in Maryland are arguing their case in the U.S. Court of Appeals to bar land surveyors from entering their properties to examine the planned line's path. 

On the other hand, the Public Service Enterprise Group is suing some landowners to allow land surveyors on their properties. 

Some landowners are receiving buyouts for their property so that PSEG can build transmission lines, while others are resistant. 

"I don't want to be bought out," fourth-generation farmer Renée Wilson told NBC News. "I'm going to fight this tooth and nail as long as I can."

PSEG is working "proactively to limit any impacts" of the lines on farmlands in Maryland, according to NBC. 

"Our experience has been that agriculture and agritourism can coexist with transmission lines," the company said.

Maryland is not set to make a final decision on the project until 2027, leaving much uncertainty for Maryland farmers.

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