The Department of Energy is going to reconsider its rather hasty decision to declare a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor that includes much of Virginia and the mid-Atlantic region. See "Energy Department To Rethink Its Ruling On Power Lines."The earlier decision, derived from legislation Congress passed ostensibly to provide for a more stable power supply in the future, would have allowed federal authorities to override Virginia's Public Service Commission in determining the fate of a proposal by Dominion Virginia Electric to build a new high voltage transmission line for several hundred million dollars.
This must be a good thing, as both Governor Kaine and AG McDonnell praised the decision.
The feds should back off. Virginia is certainly capable of determining both the need for the power lines and the best route for them if they are to be built.
We've previously said that the new lines could be rendered unnecessary with a little out of the box thinking. If Dominion were to take the money it plans to invest in high voltage lines and instead use it to subsidize solar panels, it could generate enough widely distributed peak summer electricity to blunt the demand for new transmission lines. (For details, see "A Better Way To Satisfy Demand Without Expensive, Unsightly Transmission Lines.")
By the same token, we doubt Virginia will come up with such an innovative plan, and we don't think Virginians will be too happy with brownouts and rolling blackouts, so the state will have to do something. If it doesn't, the feds will be waiting in the wings.
2 comments:
If the Feds can do that, then why don't they override that dinosaur Sen. Kennedy who is blocking the wind power project in Cape Cod?
The sea bed is Federal, but he is blocking it by packing a committee for the state and localities... whose land the high power cables would transmit the power back to shore go over... or under as they are under the sea bed.
I am not for the high power lines, we have other ways to bring in that power, and I prefer distributed energy anyhow, where your make you power locally.
My point is though, that if Kennedy who probably voted for this latest energy bill requiring that 15% of all electricy be met with renewals... i.e. wind you old freaking wind bag Kennedy.... (pun intended)
Then putting the first project in his own back yard would be a start. It's called Leadership, instead we get hypocracy!
We're not too happy with Uncle Ted on that, either. He needs to show personal leadership--fighting FOR wind off the Mass. coast would be more like it.
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