Feds force power lines into region
After sweating through another summer without a major blackout, the Bush administration moved Tuesday to ensure nonstop electricity by designating large swaths of the Southwest and mid-Atlantic regions as critical to the nation's energy grid.
The government announced two so-called "national interest electric transmission corridors," which encompass all or part of Pennsylvania and nine other states where officials say aging high-voltage lines are not capable of handling growing power demand.
The decision immediately drew criticism from Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and other politicians, some of whom have opposed power line projects such as Allegheny Energy Inc.'s $1.3 billion proposal to build the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line, stretching from Southwestern Pennsylvania through West Virginia before ending in Loudoun County, Va., outside Washington, and linking with Dominion Virginia Power.
Rendell called the decision to designate 52 of the state's 67 counties an infringement upon the state's rights. He noted that the designation could lead to what he called "the construction of unnecessary high-voltage power lines in Pennsylvania."
In Pennsylvania, Allegheny Energy would construct a 37-mile, 500,000-volt line from a new substation in Dunkard in Greene County, to a new substation in North Strabane in Washington County. Three smaller, 138,000-volt lines totaling 15 miles in length would be constructed to connect with existing lines. The project is slated for completion by 2011.
"I'm disappointed that the Department of Energy chose to adopt this designation despite the considerable opposition from the public and state officials," Rendell said. "From day one, we argued that any determination should reflect a specific need for additional transmission capacity, and we challenged the federal government to show us an instance where the Public Utility Commission refused a proposed transmission project."
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said the plan would turn three-quarters of the counties in his state "into a superhighway of power lines and transmission towers."
Allegheny Energy spokesman Allen Staggers said: "We've said all along that we intend to work with the state regulators in Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. We think (the) announcement is perhaps an acknowledgement by the federal government on just how important it is to have an upgraded transmission system. The system needs to be upgraded for all Americans."
Yesterday's decision was the first use of a new federal power to approve construction of electric lines in some places where state officials have stymied them. Some lawmakers and community groups argue the government corridors wrongly expand the potential use of eminent domain power.
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a written statement that the corridors should prompt regional authorities to "identify solutions and take prompt action" to keep energy flowing.
The mid-Atlantic power corridor runs from Virginia and Washington, north to include most of Maryland, all of New Jersey and Delaware and large sections of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The Southwest corridor is composed of seven counties in southern California and three in Arizona. The agency had originally sought to include Las Vegas in that corridor, but said it decided the needs in that county weren't as pressing.
The corridors were designed to be wide enough to accommodate several possible paths for power lines. One such proposed line in New York would be around 100 feet tall, with a footprint about a quarter-mile wide, though dimensions would vary with the terrain.
Under a 2005 law, the federal government can approve new power transmission towers within the corridors if states and regional groups fail to build such lines. The law was passed partly in response to the 2003 blackout that rippled from Ohio to Canada and New York City.
The corridor designations may increase pressure on state regulators to grant permits to private industry to build new lines. Utilities have complained that state authorities are reluctant to approve new lines, often because of local opposition.
If state authorities do not approve any construction after a year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, may intervene and approve a grid project if the new line is deemed necessary to satisfy national power needs. Such approvals could, in theory, include the use of eminent domain law to compel private owners to sell their property.
The FERC has had such authority for years in considering applications for gas lines, but this is the first time it will also be available for electricity transmission, officials said. The new law does not give the FERC eminent domain power over state or federal lands.
