The creation of the Mid-Atlantic NIETC has created unprecedented threats to decades of conservation work of organizations and communities across Pennsylvania. Federal statutes designed to protect our environment, wildlife and cherished historic sites have been ignored. Important investments made by our state in farmland protection and natural resource conservation may be undone. And the ability of land trusts to engage future landowners to protect their lands using conservation easements is undermined.

The Mid-Atlantic NIETC is effectively a federal condemnation zone which creates new processes for bypassing state and local laws. The fast-tracking of transmission lines is accomplished by overriding state oversight and by making it possible for private companies to use the powers of the federal government to take private property. It is our position that federal eminent domain should be a last resort, not a centerpiece of energy policy. Other viable options for meeting the region’s energy needs should be used before lands are taken away from individual owners and from our communities.

Conservation lands and historic landscapes that were protected for the benefit of future generations need to remain undisturbed. PALTA opposes the designation of the Mid-Atlantic Corridor and the failure to pursue reasonable and viable energy alternatives that would have less deleterious impacts on our environment and our landscape.