Energy officials back down from controversial policy

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Federal energy officials bowed to public outcry and decided to reconsider a policy announced earlier this year that would have sped construction of power lines in a corridor running from Virginia to New York.

Virginia lawmakers had strongly urged the energy agency to reconsider, strenuously arguing that the federal government should not be able to overturn state rulings. Under the policy, the Energy Department would have been able force states to allow the power lines to be constructed.

“It is my hope that they will honor the historic and traditional right of the state to make these decisions,” Gov. Tim Kaine said.

Locally, the corridor would have stretched from the Shenandoah Valley through Loudoun and Fairfax counties into the District of Columbia.

Kaine, Attorney General Robert McDonnell and congressmen from Virginia do not want the new power lines running through the commonwealth. Virginia’s concerns, which mirror objections from other states, center on the damage new power lines could do to open space, historically significant lands and other quality-of-life issues. Officials from several states also vehemently argued that the federal government did not have the legal authority to ride roughshod over state decisions.

“While I fully support infrastructure growth to facilitate economic development, Virginia should not be in this corridor,” McDonnell said. “The inclusion of Virginia was done in a manner inconsistent with federal law and fails to consider a number of local environmental, cultural, historical and aesthetic considerations.”

The Energy Department will hold an October hearing to revisit the corridor issue. In designating a “national interest electric transmission corridor” in the mid-Atlantic region, the agency said the area’s pressing electricity needs required officials to pave the way for construction of new power lines.

Without the expanded capacity to transmit electricity, federal officials said, the rapidly growing region could face a power shortage, higher bills and eventually blackouts.

Tuesday’s decision also halts plans for a similar priority corridor covering seven counties in California and three Arizona jurisdictions.

jrogalsky@dcexaminer.com