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Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 10:46:45 -0500 From: "Tracey Bradley" <tbradley@bracepatt.com< To: "Aryeh Fishman" <afishman@bracepatt.com<, "Andrea Settanni" <asettanni@bracepatt.com<, "Deanna King" <dking@bracepatt.com<, "Dan Watkiss" <dwatkiss@bracepatt.com<, "Jacqueline Java" <jjava@bracepatt.com<, "Kimberly Curry" <kcurry@bracepatt.com<, "Paul Fox" <pfox@bracepatt.com<, "Ronald Carroll" <rcarroll@bracepatt.com< Subject: DJ - Siting Of Transmission Lines May Be Tied With FERC RTOs Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline FYI DJ Siting Of Transmission Lines May Be Tied With FERC RTOs Copyright , 2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The White House energy-policy blueprint's call for federal eminent domain authority to site power transmission lines appears to be garnering cautious support from Western-state lawmakers who typically support private property rights. They indicated the administration's policy call will win their support as long as states continue to have a say in the siting process and the rights of private property owners are respected. The report of the National Energy Policy Development Group, a White House task force spearheaded by Vice President Dick Cheney, called for the Energy Department, in consultation with federal agencies and state and local government officials, to develop legislation granting authority to obtain rights-of way for electricity transmission lines. The proposed legislative effort should advance "the goal of creating a reliable national transmission grid," the White House policy blueprint recommends, noting that similar siting authority already rests at the federal level for natural gas pipelines. "The siting process must be changed to reflect the interstate nature of the transmission system," the White House report said. Senate Energy Committee Chairman Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, sponsored legislation in the last Congress to establish federal eminent domain authority for transmission lines. The White House report cited instances when states vetoed transmission lines despite the benefits the proposed facilities would provide for the interstate power grid. For example, Connecticut recently scuttled an underwater power line designed to supply power-hungry Long Island, N.Y. "The states ought to have the maturity to deal with this themselves," Murkowski said. But pro-states' rights lawmakers said the traditional transmission-siting role of states must be preserved, but be backed up by federal oversight. The siting of transmission lines is the "prerogative" of state and local governments, said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who nevertheless suggested he could support some form of federal authority as a "backstop" to state and local authority. "I have been a critic of this and I remain so," Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said of the administration's policy recommendation, citing the potential impact on the "rights of private property owners." Nevertheless, Craig suggested the administration's recommendation could be accommodated as part of the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's push to turn control of power grid assets over to independent regional transmission organizations, or RTOs. "Out of that (RTO) concept, it may be possible to address what the president has asked for," Craig said. Tying such eminent domain authority to the RTO process is an approach FERC likely would take. FERC Chairman Curt Hebert suggested the White House's policy recommendation could be delegated to RTOs. "America has to decide: Is electricity going to be an interstate commodity? If so, we have to treat it like one," Hebert said last week in support of the administration's policy recommendation. Linking transmission siting with RTOs also was espoused by Pat Wood, chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission and one of President Bush's nominees to fill two vacancies at FERC. Having RTOs oversee expansion of the U.S. interstate transmission system is "probably a good way to go," Wood said at his confirmation hearing last week. Wood said the market should identify transmission expansion needs. But if the market doesn't produce the needed results, then there should be "a fallback role for FERC to assure there isn't a train crash," he said. Such a regional planning approach within FERC's RTO scheme likely will win support from state regulators, said Charles Gray, executive director of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. The administration's call for framing legislation in consultation with the states likely will blunt potential opposition from state utility regulators, Gray said. -By Bryan Lee, Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-6647, mailto:bryan.lee@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires 21-05-01
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