TRANSMISSION CORRIDORS

Improving the grid is what the country needs. That it will also facilitate the delivery of renewable energy is another important reason to do it!

House vote a setback for power line foes
June 21, 2007 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

WHO
US House of Representatives, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., Department of Energy (DOE), Allegheny Power, Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PA PUC)
the sections of the US grid (click to enlarge)

WHAT
An amendment to an Energy and Water appropriations bill which would have stripped funding for an interstate electricity transmission corridor was defeated.

WHEN
Vote on amendment was June 20. PA PUC will decide by the end of the summer on the Allegheny Power power line plans which sparked opposition to the interstate corridor.

WHERE
The transmission corridor transits 8 northeastern states. The Allegheny power lines pass through Washington and Greene counties in PA.

WHY
- The transmission corridor would serve 50 million electricity consumers, would be funded by DOE.
- Opposition was sparked by Allegheny Power’s 37-mile, 500 kilovolt line.
- The region’s power grid requires investment but states are dragging their feet. In the designated corridor, DOE could override states if the state denies a project application, goes 1 year w/o a decision on a project or overburdens a permit with conditions. DOE could then grant construction permits and/or override state/local regulations.
there are a lot of overburdened lines

QUOTES
Daniel Griffiths, director, Pennsylvania Bureau of Energy Innovations and Technology Deployment: “The Department of Energy's broad designation of the Mid-Atlantic Corridor, which includes much of Pennsylvania, combined with the siting process recently adopted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may lead to projects in Pennsylvania that ignore the nation's best interests and the critical concerns of states…Governor Rendell fears the breadth of this corridor -- as outlined by the federal government -- may lead to projects
that harm Pennsylvania without any balance of benefits…”