Congress included carefully crafted and negotiated provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 05) to assist state and federal efforts to develop needed transmission infrastructure, to further grid reliability and eliminate key transmission congestion. The provisions gave the Department of Energy (DOE) authority, under Section 1221, to designate certain congested corridors as National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC), which would provide FERC with limited back-stop authority, if a state had not acted within one year, and under certain circumstances, to issue a permit for development of certain key transmission facilities. In addition, Congress also provided similar authority, under Section 368 of EPAct 2005, to allow five federal agencies to act jointly to designate pipeline and transmission corridors on federal lands. Following the April 2007 DOE designation of mid-Atlantic and southern California NIETCs, opposition to these provisions has heightened. Stand-alone legislation, H.R. 810, the "Protect Communities for Power Line Abuse Act" was introduced by Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Frank Wolfe (R-VA) to give more authority to private landowners whose lands may fall within a NIETC. The bill essentially guts the FERC federal back stop authority, and places that authority back in the hands of the states. Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Nick Rahall (D-WV), also included a provision in his bill, H.R. 2337, the "Energy Policy Reform and Revitalization Act of 2007" that would roll back the authority relating to the designation of pipeline and transmission corridors on federal lands. The Rahall bill substitutes a study on whether such corridors are needed, and would severely limit locations where pipeline and transmission corridors could be designated. A mark-up on the Rahall bill is scheduled for Wednesday, June 6.
On June 5, APPA and EEI sent a letter to all Members of Congress underscoring the history of the siting provisions and restating the association's support for them.