Not in my backyard: Feds propose new powerline corridors

By M&C US News Dec 5, 2007, 17:05 GMT

There is nothing uglier than above ground power lines and towers carrying high voltage electricity.  Now energy officials announced Tuesday they will re-examine a decision to declare a portion  of the mid-Atlantic and two Southwest states a priority area for new power lines after protests from those fighting the proposed lines in their communities.

CNN reports that the Energy Department said it would grant a rehearing on its October decision to declare two areas of the country as "national interest electric transmission corridors," a new legal designation designed to foster greater power line construction in order to prevent blackouts.

Local groups and towns resist such proposed lines placed in their communities, saying they are ugly, unnecessary, and diminish the quality of life.

Advocates for the corridor law say the rising demand for energy makes it necessary to avoid future blackouts as the nation's energy grid ages.

The mid-Atlantic power corridor runs from Virginia and Washington, D.C. 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 consists of seven counties in southern California and three in Arizona.

According to CNN, in authorizing a rehearing, federal officials will instead analyze internally each specific objection to their decision.

"To give these requests full consideration, (the Energy Department) will take additional time to thoroughly evaluate the basis of their requests," said agency spokeswoman Julie Ruggiero. She added that the original decision was based on "sound data and analysis showing that there is persistent electricity transmission congestion within the corridors."

The last option for power corridor opponents is to file lawsuits.

Local groups sought to prevent the construction of a 190-mile high-voltage transmission line from the Utica area to the suburbs north of New York City, called New York Regional Interconnect. New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer had requested the rehearing.

A major power line could be approved by Washington if state authorities fail to approve it after a year.

This would mark the first time the federal government took that authority over what was always a state decision.