If the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project knocks on someone’s door to get access to their property, it will not have an off duty Carroll County deputy sheriff there to help it talk to the landowner.

Carroll County Sheriff James DeWees, in a letter to members of his staff, said that they are not allowed to work for the MPRP when they are off duty.

DeWees says he is denying an MPRP request to allow it to hire members of his department to make contact with landowners about surveying being done on their property.

“This will not be approved under any circumstance,” Dewees said in the letter to commanders, supervisors and deputies.

Dewees added that members of his staff “will not respond and enforce a civil court order to allow the Piedmont (MPRP) group onto anyone’s property. If you should get a call from the Piedmont group advising that a landowner will not let them on their property to survey, please explain that the policy of the sheriff is to not intervene and they should seek relief from the courts if owners refuse access.”

He did not return a request for comment.

PSEG, the New Jersey-based power company that is spearheading the MPRP, is taking legal action to survey the property of more than 100 people who have denied it access. It wants approval to build a controversial 70-mile power line through Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick Counties.

PSEG says it needs to do the surveying so it can complete its application that it has submitted to the Maryland Public Service Commission seeking permission to build the power line.

In a written statement, PSEG said, “PSEG has not reached out to any law enforcement agency to request that members of law enforcement accompany project team members on private property when contacting landowners. Beyond that, it is our policy to decline comment on any security-related matters.”

Joanne Frederick, the president of Stop MPRP said she appreciates the sheriff for standing up “for the impacted members of the community.”

She called PSEG’s legal filing to get access to property a scare tactic, adding that almost half of this power line would go over farmland.

“There could be livestock impacted by people tromping across the land,” Frederick said. “There could be crops impacted by people tromping across the land. It’s just not acceptable.”

This story may be updated.