Feds assist PSEG amid pushback to power line project: ‘Like hostage negotiation’

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After Public Service Enterprise Group agents said they were threatened by Carroll County landowners, a federal judge ordered for U.S. marshals to assist surveyors working on a controversial power line project.

Federal authorities accompanied PSEG agents after U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson ordered Tuesday for U.S. marshals to assist with surveying Westminster resident Andrea Kable’s properties. It was Abelson’s second such order — he ruled in early March for federal agents to assist surveyors after another property owner “berated them, called them offensive slurs, and referenced his 45-caliber pistol. ”

Kable, who said federal agents appeared on her property the same day as Abelson’s ruling, described the encounter as “more like hostage negotiation.”

“There was nothing civilized about it,” she said in a Wednesday interview, describing her animals as being in “complete and utter uproar” as eight men, including federal agents, ran past her house.

The rulings mark an escalation of tensions between property owners and PSEG, a New Jersey-based energy firm that has been conducting surveys necessary to build its proposed 70-mile high-voltage electric transmission line across three Maryland counties.

The Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project has faced opposition from property owners who argue that the $424 million project would disrupt farmland and bring transmission towers into residential areas.

Attorneys for the energy firm argued that assistance from federal authorities was necessary to safely conduct surveys and provide notice of future surveys on a Westminster property. A declaration from Ryan Kivitz, PSEG’s lead safety agent, said that during a visit last week, Kable had “aggressively screamed profanities at our team and threatened to release the dogs on us.”

The alleged threats came after Abelson had issued a preliminary injunction permitting PSEG to enter properties to “make surveys, run lines or levels, or obtain information relating to the acquisition and future use of the properties” in connection with the transmission line project. PSEG’s attorneys also filed a motion last week seeking to hold Kable in civil contempt for disrupting surveyors.

“I have not been the aggressor,” Kable said. A horse farmer, Kable said she has had to cancel riding lessons, therapies and put programs on hold “because of constant bullying” by the utility company. The presence of agents can disrupt the horses and other livestock on her property, potentially making her liable for injuries, she said. She said she has urged the power company to simply make an appointment, though they have not.

Spokespeople from PSEG did not return a request for comment Wednesday.

Abelson’s orders authorize federal authorities to enter Kable’s properties and “use reasonably necessary force to effectuate” his previous orders.

Last October, PSEG filed its initial action against Kable in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, alleging that she posted TikTok comments encouraging violence against the utility’s agents.

Court filings allege that she responded to a comment that stated “Dump the magazine…” with “into all the pretty orange targets,” apparently referencing the PSEG agents’ orange vests. Her account also replied “happy hunting! Stay safe!” to another comment suggesting to “hunt” surveyors, and “further suggested using animals to charge at surveyors,” according to court filings.

The comments also prompted an order from Abelson prohibiting hunting on involved properties “while any surveyor is conducting a survey” pursuant to his preliminary injunction.

Officials at PSEG have said the transmission line project is necessary to counteract an energy deficit in Maryland driven by the scheduled shuttering of coal power plants. The utility is contracting with PJM Interconnection, the largest regional transmission organization in the U.S., to build the transmission line.