On April 26, the Department of Energy (DOE) released two draft National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors ("NIETC") designations. The two DOE-designated areas are in regions of the country where consumers are negatively affected by lack of transmission capacity or congestion. The first proposed corridor is for the Mid-Atlantic region and includes parts of Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware and the District of Columbia. The proposed Southwest Corridor includes counties in California, Arizona and Nevada.
DOE was granted the authority to issue corridor designations in Section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which directed the Secretary of Energy to conduct a nationwide study of electric transmission congestion. Based on the study, the Secretary was granted authority to designate any geographic area "experiencing electric energy transmission capacity constraints or congestion that adversely affects consumers" as a NIETC.
Sec. 1221 also gave FERC significant new authority to site transmission facilities in a NIETC area, after making findings relating to a state's failure or inability to site such facilities. This federal siting authority provision was controversial when included in EPAct 2005 and the recent NIETC designations have sparked that controversy anew.
More Public Meetings Announced
On May 10, DOE announced four additional public meetings, to be held during the 60-day comment period, on the proposed NIETC corridors. The comment period closes on July 6. Meetings will be held in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Rochester. The other three public meetings will be held in Arlington (VA), San Diego and New York.
Opposition to the designations is emerging in the Senate, with Sens. John Warner (R-VA) and James Webb (D-VA) circulating a joint signature letter to DOE that would call for an additional 30-day public comment period. The draft letter also asks DOE to hold public meetings in every congressional district that would be affected by the transmission designations.