To:

Maryland Public Service Commission

Chair Barve and Commissioners Hoover, Suchman, Linton, and McLean

William Donald Schaefer Tower, 6 St. Paul Street, 16th Floor

Baltimore, Maryland 21202  

We, the undersigned residents, civic associations, and community members of Aquasco, Eagle Harbor, Cedar Haven, and neighboring Tri-County communities along the Patuxent River in Prince George’s, Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s Counties, Maryland, respectfully urge the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) to immediately pause all proceedings related to the proposed Chalk Point Energy Storage Project (also referred to as Flatiron Energy’s / Chalk Point Reliability Storage LLC’s 400-megawatt, 4-hour lithium iron phosphate battery storage facility at the Chalk Point Generating Station site, 25100 Chalk Point Road, Aquasco, MD).

This includes any vote, approval, conditional approval, rejection, or award of Energy Storage Capacity Credits (Case #9866 or related dockets), currently scheduled as early as October 1, 2026.

Why this matters

Residents of Aquasco, Eagle Harbor, Cedar Haven, and surrounding areas received no prior formal notification from elected officials, project representatives, or the Chalk Point Generating Station about this large-scale industrial battery storage proposal. Community leaders only learned of it recently and immediately began informing residents and property owners.

Eagle Harbor is Maryland’s second-oldest incorporated African American municipality. Both Eagle Harbor and Cedar Haven are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and form part of the Southern Maryland National Heritage Area. These communities, along with others in the southern region of Prince George’s, Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s Counties, share deep residential, cultural, historic, and environmental ties to the Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay watershed. For generations, residents have already lived with the impacts of industrial fossil-fuel generation at Chalk Point. Any new industrial-scale energy infrastructure in this area raises serious questions of environmental justice, cumulative impacts, land use, historic and cultural resources, watershed protection, and long-term community resilience.

Because the project sits in southern Prince George’s County along the Patuxent River, its potential effects on watershed health, emergency response capacity, air and water quality, evacuation routes during extreme weather or incidents, and the historic and cultural character of the river corridor extend beyond the immediate neighborhood to residents and communities across Prince George’s, Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s Counties—all of which share the Chesapeake Bay watershed and Southern Maryland’s interconnected environmental and public-safety systems.

Lithium-based battery energy storage systems also present distinct safety risks, including thermal runaway, fire-suppression challenges, hazardous materials concerns, and evacuation constraints—issues that require careful, area-specific emergency planning given the local coastal geography and limited access routes.

While we support the goals of reliable, clean energy under Maryland’s Next Generation Energy Act and consistency with Prince George’s County’s Climate Action Plan, a project of this scale and location must not advance without transparent disclosure, meaningful community evaluation, and genuine public involvement.

We therefore request that the Maryland Public Service Commission take the following actions before any further approval, award, or construction-related steps:

1. Grant a procedural pause on the Chalk Point Energy Storage Project and any related Energy Storage Capacity Credits decisions to allow adequate time for community review of socioeconomic, environmental justice, historic and cultural resource, land use, watershed, emergency response, evacuation, public safety, and cumulative impacts.
2. Require a formal public information session (or local public hearing) in or near the affected Patuxent River communities, with advance notice, plain-language materials, safety and emergency-response data, participation by the applicant and relevant state/local agencies, time for questions, and a subsequent written comment period.
3. Release complete, accessible public project information, including the project summary, site layout, technology description, fire and emergency response plans, interconnection and construction schedules, environmental and stormwater materials, and any non-confidential studies or filings.
4. Provide sufficient time for written comments from residents, civic associations, municipalities, property owners, and local emergency responders after the public information session.

The Greater Baden Aquasco Citizens Association, Route 202 Neighborhood Coalition, Cedar Haven Civic Association on the Patuxent River, Inc., and interested residents and property owners request to be recognized as parties or stakeholders of record and to be kept fully informed.

We ask the Commission to treat our historic Patuxent River communities as active stakeholders. Pause the proceedings, ensure transparency and public involvement, and allow a fair process so that decisions about this project are made with full knowledge of its potential impacts on the people who will live with it.  

Respectfully submitted by the undersigned,

[Signatures / Change.org supporters]