A new federal court ruling in Maryland is forcing landowners to holster their rifles on their own property whenever a utility company’s survey crews show up.
In a case involving PSEG Renewable Transmission LLC and multiple property owners, a judge has clarified an earlier injunction in a way that temporarily strips landowners of their ability to hunt while survey work is underway.
For families who rely on hunting season and care deeply about property rights, the fallout has been immediate and emotional.
Federal Judge Steps In To “Clarify” An Injunction
The dispute comes out of two related federal cases in the District of Maryland: PSEG Renewable Transmission LLC v. Arentz Family, LP, et al., under case numbers 25-cv-1235-ABA and 25-cv-2296-ABA.
According to the order signed by U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson on November 26, 2025, PSEG asked the court to “clarify” prior preliminary injunctions so that hunting would be banned on certain properties during survey periods.
PSEG’s original request, as quoted in the order, was to prohibit hunting on any day within a two-to-three-week window whenever the company had given notice that it would be conducting surveys.
The company proposed a system where property owners could email PSEG to request permission to hunt on particular days, and PSEG would respond within two business days. In other words, landowners would have to ask a New Jersey-based utility for hunting access on their own land while the injunction was in effect.
Respondents pushed back.
According to Judge Abelson’s order, the landowners argued that they should at least be allowed to hunt on days or in areas where no surveys were actually happening. They proposed more specific notice from PSEG – down to dates, times and locations – and asked that surveyors wear hunter orange or pink during Maryland hunting season.
They also opposed any blanket restriction on hunting, even in the vicinity of surveyors, while work was being done.
Judge Abelson wrote that “neither proposal provides a proper balance of the competing rights.”
That sentence is the heart of the order. The court decided to impose its own middle-ground solution.
What The New Order Actually Says
Judge Abelson ultimately granted PSEG’s motion and formally clarified the injunctions.
In plain language, the order says this:
- On properties covered by the injunction, hunting is prohibited on days when surveying occurs, during the hours of the surveys.
- Outside those survey hours and days, hunting can still occur, but the mechanics of that coordination are being worked out.
The judge explained that, to “balance the interests” of landowners who want to hunt with the safety concerns of survey crews, the preliminary injunctions – requiring owners to permit access “to the extent reasonably necessary” – now expressly prohibit hunting while surveyors are working.
The order also directs PSEG to instruct all surveyors to wear orange or pink vests during any Maryland hunting season, a nod to the safety concerns landowners raised.
Judge Abelson stopped short of fully adopting either side’s notice procedure. Instead, he told the parties to confer and submit either a joint proposed order or competing orders by December 3, 2025, laying out the timelines and specific information both sides must share.
The goal, as described in the order, is to limit hunting “only to the extent necessary to protect the surveyors’ safety” and to minimize intrusion on landowners’ use of their own property.
Until that process is finished, PSEG is told to keep coordinating directly with any landowners who reach out.
On paper, it’s a narrow restriction tied to survey hours.
In practice, during an active survey season, it means the utility’s schedule now dictates when families can legally hunt their own land.
A Transmission Line Few Want, And A Fight Over Who Pays The Price
The broader project behind this fight is the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, described in FOX45 News’ coverage as a proposed 67- to 70-mile transmission line running through Baltimore, Carroll, and Frederick counties.
Reporter Ellie Buckheit, writing for FOX45, notes that the ruling applies to properties along the route where PSEG is seeking survey access for that project.
During a televised report for FOX45, the station explained that this latest decision came after a heated federal court hearing on November 25, where lawyers for landowners and PSEG debated whether hunting could continue while surveyors were on site.
Property owners’ attorneys argued that they have a right to hunt on their land.
PSEG’s lawyers said their survey crews needed firm safety assurances – no gunfire in the same area while they’re working.
Judge Abelson said during the hearing that he was trying to balance the rights of both sides, a point echoed in his written order when he wrote that a clarification was “warranted” to address safety while “minimizing the intrusion” on landowners’ rights.
The court also ordered PSEG to serve the order by certified mail on any unrepresented landowner within seven days, highlighting how many ordinary families are being pulled into a complex federal dispute over a project that, as critics point out, hasn’t even been fully approved by Maryland yet.
Landowners Say Their Rights Are Being “Directly Compromised”
On the ground, the reaction from landowners and grassroots organizers has been furious.
In FOX45’s video report, Joanne Frederick, president of the group STOP MPRP, blasted the ruling as “patently unfair and unjust.”
She told FOX45 that, “Not only can we not say who comes on our property and doesn’t come on our property, but now we are prohibited from conducting lawful activity on our own property.”
Frederick called it a “direct compromise of private property rights” that should “alarm every Marylander and frankly… everyone across the nation,” warning that this kind of order could become a template for developers across the country.
In her written quote to FOX45’s Buckheit, Frederick went even further, saying, “Once again, the burden of an ill-conceived project – one that has not been approved by the State of Maryland – falls squarely on the landowners.”
She emphasized that families are being forced to spend their own time, money and legal fees responding to a developer’s demands “for a project that may never be built,” and argued that the situation shows why stronger protections for private property are urgently needed.
Landowner Betsy McFarland, featured in FOX45’s video coverage, said she would “do everything in my power not to see [my property] destroyed.”
McFarland told the station she believes she has “a constitutional right… to allow who I want on my land,” and that she does not want “some company from New Jersey” coming in, assessing her land, and pushing a power line that she says will destroy what she’s “worked so hard all of my life to earn and own.”
From their perspective, this isn’t just about survey timing.
It’s about feeling like their land – and now their lawful use of it – has been temporarily commandeered for the sake of a private project.
PSEG Says It’s About Safety, Not Control
PSEG, for its part, has tried to frame the ruling as a reasonable safety measure.
In a statement reported by Ellie Buckheit for FOX45, the company said, “The safety of our surveyors and property owners is our top priority. We appreciate the Court’s careful consideration of our request to clarify the preliminary injunction.”
PSEG also pledged to remain “committed to open communication and coordination with property owners” and said it would “continue to provide timely notice of survey activities” and “work collaboratively to minimize disruption.”
The company had originally proposed a system where landowners could email them to request hunting days within PSEG’s survey window, and PSEG would respond quickly. Judge Abelson did not adopt that exact framework, but he did accept the core idea that hunting must be shut down while surveyors are present.
From a safety perspective, it’s easy to see the logic.
Nobody wants people walking around with rifles and shotguns near crews who are focused on mapping, drilling, or walking lines through thick woods.
But from a rights perspective, it’s also easy to see why this feels like a line-crossing moment for many landowners.
They’re being told that, for as long as this injunction is in place and PSEG’s survey schedule is active, the timing of their hunting – something they’ve done for years without interference – will be dictated by a utility and a federal court.
Why This Ruling Could Matter Beyond One Project
Judge Abelson’s order is, technically, narrow. It doesn’t ban hunting outright. It doesn’t permanently expropriate land. It blocks hunting only during survey hours on survey days and folds in safety requirements like orange or pink vests.
But as Joanne Frederick warned, there’s a bigger question lurking under the surface: if a court can restrict lawful hunting on private land to accommodate survey work for a not-yet-approved project, what else can be limited in the name of “balancing competing rights”?
Supporters of the ruling will say this is just a temporary, common-sense safety rule.
Critics will say it opens the door for developers to use federal courts and preliminary injunctions to chip away at property rights piece by piece – access first, then activity restrictions, all before a single pole or tower goes in the ground.
The order itself, the FOX45 reporting by Ellie Buckheit and Keith Daniels, and the comments from Frederick and McFarland all point to a clash that goes far beyond one hunting season.
It’s about who really controls land when a major infrastructure project comes calling: the family whose name is on the deed, or the company whose line is drawn across the map.
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
