Robert P. Casey Jr.
Casey: U.S. sapping state power; He plans a bill to increase public input on the federal push for new transmission lines
January 17, 2008
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
By Amy Worden
HARRISBURG - With anger mounting over federal plans for a vast East Coast electricity transmission corridor that would cross much of Pennsylvania, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. said yesterday that he would introduce legislation seeking greater state and public input in federal decisions on power-line construction.
The Pennsylvania Democrat said the federal government had ignored the state's concerns when it designated 52 of 67 counties as part of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast corridor last year.
"This process is not fair to lots of states," Casey said in an interview after a public forum he held in the Capitol.
The transmission corridors are intended to relieve congestion and prevent blackouts like the one that hit the Northeast in 2003.
Casey's bill would require the Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consider alternatives to power-line construction, take into account how decisions would affect state conservation and pollution-reduction efforts, and provide a clear and open process for public comment.
He said he also planned to look into amending the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which authorized the corridors. "I'm very troubled by the scope of eminent domain in the bill," Casey said.
The act was the first comprehensive energy legislation in 13 years. Environmental groups criticized its tax incentives for the oil and gas industries, but it also provided investment funding for alternative energy and addressed the need for improvements in electricity lines to boost reliability.
Casey and U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) signed several letters to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman stating their concern about states being ignored in the process. States traditionally have jurisdiction over siting and evaluation of transmission projects.
"We have not yet been approached by Sen. Casey's office on specific legislation, but we will certainly review the efforts," said Scott Hoeflich, Specter's chief of staff. "Sen. Specter continues to maintain that the Department of Energy should fully include the local communities throughout the process."
In the fall, the Department of Energy made final its designation of a large swath of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, including Southeastern Pennsylvania and all of New Jersey, as a priority area for new power lines.
"These national corridors serve as an important indication by the federal government that significant transmission constraint or congestion problems exist," said Julie Ruggiero, a department spokeswoman. "The goal is simple: to keep reliable supplies of electric energy flowing to all Americans."
She said the designation had "no environmental impact, but instead identifies . . . areas of the country that are experiencing or could experience interruptions in power supply."
In December, after widespread protest, the agency announced it would reexamine its decision, but the issue is far from resolved, Pennsylvania officials said.
Speakers at Casey's forum said the federal designation threatened the environment, undermined conservation efforts, and could harm the economy.
Kathleen McGinty, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said more power lines would add to environmental problems in a state already coping with pollution from mining and coal plants.
She called power lines "dinosaurs" that would undermine conservation when the state is making a record investment in alternative energy.
State Rep. Kate Harper, a Republican who represented the Montgomery County Land Trust at the forum, said she feared preserved land would be targeted for power lines.
"It would wreck what we've tried so hard to preserve," she said.
PJM Interconnection, the Valley Forge company that operates the electricity grid in the southeast part of the state, has said that without enough lines to carry power to users, outages could occur as soon as 2012.
A spokesman said yesterday that the company had received an invitation late Tuesday - too late to send a senior person to the event.
"We have talked to the senator on other occasions, and what we pointed out to him was that the national corridor law was not intended to second-guess the commonwealth," Ray Dotter said. "It was intended as an interstate line such that one state could not hold up what may benefit another."
