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ShareThreats of Condemnation
The 2005 amendments to the federal Energy Policy Act created a process for expediting approvals of new long distance transmission routes. Federal ‘backstop siting authority’ takes siting authority away from the states, greatly decreasing the time allotted for public input on impacts and the concerns of affected parties, and enabling the use of eminent domain for right-of-way acquisition.
The US Department of Energy approved the designation of two National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors, areas in which traditional state regulation of electric transmission lines will be superceded by newly conferred federal regulatory power. In an action which has been called “an unprecedented usurping of state’s rights,” which “will preclude meaningful consideration of adverse effects,” this corridor designation raises the specter of interstate high voltage lines being ramrodded upon the Mid-Atlantic and Southwestern landscapes through the heavy handed use of new eminent domain powers.
Meanwhile, current legislatve and policy trends represent new challenges ahead for those working to protect our land and water, wildlife and cherished historic sites from the instrusive expansion of transmission. Most notably, major federal legislation has been introduced that would affect the way in which transmission projects are planned and approved.
Additional Resources
Land Trust Alliance. The Case for Intelligent Planning and Siting of Transmission Lines— Avoidance or Mitigation of Protected Lands.
Jenkins, Rose. "Higher Power". Saving Land, Fall 2009.
McLaughlin, Nancy A. "Condemning Open Space: Making Way for National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (Or Not)". Virginia Environmental Law Journal (Vol. 26:399), pp. 399-423.
