Unless action is taken by elected officials, the “backstop” siting process, as established under section 1221 of the national Energy Policy Act (EPAct) in 2005, and DOE’s course of action, threaten to:

• Impose on Pennsylvania landowners an unprecedented use of federal eminent domain;
• Strip the General Assembly and the PUC of any meaningful control over the abuse of eminent domain and consideration of local concerns (allowing the PUC only one year to approve new transmission proposals), putting decisions that have always been made at the state level in the control of the federal government;
• Weaken national security—stringing hundreds of miles of highly visible lines from easily attacked towers and then making the population dependent on their integrity is the antithesis of good security planning;
• Deter efforts to develop alternative energy resources including energy efficiency and de-centralized generation—efforts that can enhance national security by diversifying our energy base and eliminating vulnerability to terrorism;
• Promote increased coal-burning by older, dirtier plants west of us with the resulting air pollution blowing downwind into the Commonwealth, putting the health of everyone but especially our children at greater risk;
• Destroy the integrity of communities and scenic, historic and natural landscapes including parks, battlefields, important bird habitats and protected open spaces—recent transmission proposals have targeted thousands of acres of conserved lands,  preserved historic sites and other community assets with new lines and towers that would stand well above typical tree heights;
• Undercut existing federal law such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act by imposing new processes and procedures inconsistent with those laws;
• Work at cross purposes to efforts to responsibly address the threats of global warming; and
• Impose on Pennsylvania ratepayers much of the cost of taking private property and building transmission lines, even though most of the benefits would accrue to the owners of coal-fired plants to our west and markets to our east.