Constellation Energy CEO Joe Dominguez speaks Nov. 20 at the 2025 Policy Forum, where he provided details about his company’s plans for potential new power generation projects proposed for Harford County. (Photo by Christine Condon/Maryland Matters)

Constellation Energy’s proposals for a new natural gas power plant in Maryland can go through an expedited permitting process, after they received an initial green light from the Maryland Public Service Commission on Tuesday.

State lawmakers created the fast-track permitting process in the spring, in response to soaring energy bills, spurred in part by a lack of energy supply in the multistate electric grid that includes Maryland.

In response, Constellation submitted two possible proposals for a new natural gas power plant in the state — a larger and a smaller option. Both would be located in Harford County, near the existing Perryman power plant, which runs on oil and natural gas.

In a news release from November, Constellation said the proposals were meant to offer Maryland policymakers a “menu of options” for new power generation in the state. Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez said in the release that the company hopes to be a “thought partner” for state leaders as they decide the path forward.

“While there is a good deal of consensus on the need for battery storage, the future of natural gas in our state is less clear.” Dominguez said in the news release. “We believe that natural gas generation should be an option, but there are pros and cons to consider and, quite naturally, we do not want to build what our state does not want.”

During remarks at a Maryland Chamber of Commerce forum in November, Dominguez said that running pipelines to provide natural gas to the Perryman site could cost around $800 million, and said the company would likely need some form of state help to move forward with the costly plan.

Tuesday’s PSC decision does not mean that either of Constellation’s new proposals will necessarily be built, only that they can go through the fast-track. Under the law, which took effect June 1, the commission has 295 days after the application is considered complete to make a final permit decision.

If constructed, though, a new natural gas plant would likely place many of Maryland’s climate emissions and clean energy aspirations out of reach. After talk of a new gas plant began circulating in the last legislative session, environmentalists pushed back hard, a fight that they expect to continue in the legislative session that begins Jan. 14. They also filed petitions directly to the commission opposing the Constellation gas proposals, and supporting battery storage.

In Tuesday’s order, PSC Executive Secretary Andrew S. Johnston wrote that the commission “is cognizant of and shares these concerns” regarding new fossil fuel-powered generation in Maryland. “However, the General Assembly has made a policy decision to expedite new generation construction, including natural gas-fired power plants under this process,” Johnston wrote.

Johnston added that environmental groups will have the opportunity to “raise concerns related to emissions and environmental justice” during the upcoming permitting process.

Constellation also submitted a proposal for an 800-gigawatt battery energy storage project for expedited review, but the PSC denied it, saying it did not meet all of the qualifications set by the legislature. Lawmakers set up the fast-track for so-called “dispatchable” energy generation, which is easy to deploy during times of peak demand.

The battery proposal, proposed for several spots on the Perryman site, fell just below a reliability threshold set by lawmakers, according to the commission, which denied the project “despite the other good characteristics” it possessed. Lawmakers did, however, create a separate approval process for battery storage projects in the legislation they passed this year.

Two other companies submitted fast-track proposals, but both were withdrawn before the commission issued its decision.

One proposal would have upgraded an existing natural gas power plant in Prince George’s County’s Brandywine, and the other was entirely confidential, much to the chagrin of environmental groups. The Brandywine proposal also received blowback, from local activists who argued that the area is already overburdened by power plants and industrial facilities.

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In a news release issued earlier this month, a group of Perryman residents and members of the community group 3P Protect Perryman Peninsula expressed concerns about a possible new gas plant in their community. They also pushed for the PSC to take more time to review the energy proposals before deciding which could move through the fast-track.

“They’re asking regulators to move first and ask questions later,” said Stacy Stone, a lifelong Perryman resident who lives near the proposed site and serves on the Harford County Democratic Central Committee. “Maryland strengthened its environmental justice laws because communities like ours were harmed when decisions were rushed. Those protections don’t work if they’re treated as an afterthought.”

But the commission denied a request for a 60-day extension, originally filed by several other environmental groups: the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, Clean Water Action, Earthjustice and the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club.

In the order, Johnston wrote that the “short timeline” reflects “the General Assembly’s urgency in responding to the lack of new generation in Maryland.”

“The General Assembly understood that the timeline it proposed would limit stakeholder participation in the initial review of proposals,” Johnston added.