DOE authorizes rehearings on corridor designation

Opposition widespread

By FRITZ MAYER

WASHINGTON, DC — About 70 critics of federal energy corridors will have another chance to have their concerns and objections considered. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on December 3 that it has authorised “rehearings” on the corridors in response to applications filed by individuals, corporations and public officials from West Virginia to New York.

In October, the DOE designated a broad area of the Northeast as the Mid-Atlantic Area National Transmission Corridor, also known as a National Interest Electricity Transmission Corridor, which would, in some situations, allow the federal government to override the rulings of state governments concerning the placement of large power line projects. The area includes large parts of seven states and the District of Columbia.

Opponents of the proposed New York Regional Interconnection powerline project saw the development as positive. Sentor Hillary Clinton issued a statement saying, “It is good news that the Department of Energy may now be listening to the New Yorkers who stand in the path of the NYRI power line.”

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was one of the applicants for a rehearing. In his application, Cuomo said, among other things, that the DOE did not properly follow the applicable law because it did not conduct meaningful consultations with the states regarding the corridor designation.

The Pike County Commissioners were also among the applicants, and their letter also faulted the DOE. They wrote, “We feel that all possible alternatives should be comprehensively considered that would make the corridor designation unnecessary.”

Another complaint against the DOE was that the designation usurped the power of state agencies. Paula Tishok, Secretary of the Energy Conservation Council of Pennsylvania, said that the designation would improperly “diminish or eliminate the role of the PA Public Utility Commission,” and other state agencies.

There were also applications from officials in Maryland and Virginia, where proposed power line projects may be impacted by the corridor designation.

The DOE also agreed to rehearings on the other designated corridor, covering Arizona and California and called the Southwest Area National. Eleven individuals and officials applied for rehearings in that case.