****National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor Call to Action****
Please call Senator Rockefeller and Senator Byrd next week and ask them to sign onto a letter requesting oversight hearings on National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor Designation (the letter is attached). The Department of Energy has designated 42 of 55 counties in West Virginia as part of the Mid-Atlantic NIETC. Within this area, an interstate transmission line applicant has access to federal eminent domain to site the line. NIETC could be used to site the TrAILCo/Dominion transmission line in West Virginia.
Please ask your Senators to join Senators Casey, Whitehouse and Biden in asking the Energy & Natural Resources Committee to hold hearings on this flawed policy.
Senator Rockefeller’s DC office: (202)224-6472
Senator Byrd’s DC office: (202)224-3954
For more information, please contact Liese Dart at (202)857-6982 or by email at ldart@pecva.org.
What is NIETC Designation?
Sec. 1221 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act provided the Department of Energy the discretion to designate National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC) in areas of the United States that are found to be electrically congested. If a project lies within an NIETC, a utility may appeal an unfavorable state decision to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for use of federal eminent domain to site the project. Despite receiving over 2,000 comments against the designations, the Department of Energy designated two corridors on October 5, 2007. The first NIETC’s encompass portions of 10 states, 220 counties and impact more than 72 million people. The Department of Energy failed to conduct an alternatives analysis or to consult with the affected states prior to these designations, both requirements of Sec. 1221. Although this policy could be used to provide long distance transmission access to our nation’s developing wind and solar facilities, the Department of Energy has not designated areas of the country that are identified as having significant renewable resources. The Mid-Atlantic NIETC designation will increase transmission infrastructure to coal-fired generation built prior to the 1972 Clean Air Act, facilities that lie outside of the EPA’s non-attainment area for air quality. These investments in unnecessary interstate transmission will make cleaner alternatives such as efficiency and demand response technologies less economically viable. Eight of the ten states in the first NIETC designations have filed Petitions for Rehearing against the Department of Energy’s final decision.
Liese Dart
Special Projects Assistant
Piedmont Environmental Council
Phone: (202)857-7982
Cell: (202)431-8606
Fax: (540)349-9003
ldart@pecva.org
www.pecva.org
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