Sierra Club Opposes Transmission Line Corridors
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 3 May 2007
Sierra Club Joins Bipartisan Group of Congressmen In Opposing Transmission Line Corridors
Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Repeal Section 1221 of EPACT 2005
Today Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope appeared with Reps.
Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Frank Wolf (R-VA), Mike Arcuri (D-NY), John Hall
(D-NY), and Chris Carney (D-PA), the National Trust for Historic
Preservation, and numerous other environmental and historic preservation
groups to speak out against the transmission line corridors designated
last week by the Department of Energy (DOE) under the auspices of the
Energy Policy Act of 2005. Reps. Wolf and Hinchey have introduced
bipartisan bills to repeal section 1221 of the law, which grants DOE and
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) nearly limitless powers
of eminent domain and exempts them from key environmental laws in
designating so-called “National Interest Electric Transmission
Corridors.”
Statement of Carl Pope
“There were many, many reasons why the Sierra Club opposed the Energy
Policy Act of 2005, but the sweeping powers granted to the DOE and FERC
to designate “National Interest Electric Transmissions Corridors” were
near the top of the list. Last week the DOE showed just how dangerous
this nearly limitless authority is when, under intense pressure from the
energy industry, it proposed the first two such corridors. They make a
mockery of the word “corridor,” as they include the entirety of the
states of Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey, along with substantial
portions of Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio,
Nevada, Arizona, and southern California. At this rate, the entire
country could soon be deemed an essential electric transmission
corridor.
“This provision usurps the right of state and local governments to deny
access to certain lands and areas based on local interests and values.
In addition, it runs roughshod over laws meant to protect
environmentally and historically sensitive areas such as Civil War
battlefields from development. It also trumps the rights of property
owners in the corridors, allowing for their lands to be seized via
eminent domain and transferred to private corporations. Above all,
backers of this provision believe that energy companies should be
allowed to construct power lines and pipelines anywhere they see fit in
order to increase their own profits, regardless of what’s in the public
interest.
“In the Northeast, new transmission lines would be used to ship power
into the region produced from dirty, outdated coal-fired power plants in
Appalachia and elsewhere. This undermines the important efforts of the
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which is spurring new and innovative
developments in the Northeast to increase clean energy supplies and
combat global warming. It would also subject communities outside the
region to the pollution, including toxic mercury, from power plants that
would be supplying power to cities hundreds of miles away.
“Instead of forcing new transmission lines on communities across the
country, we can eliminate the need for them by increasing the energy
efficiency of our schools, homes, factories, offices, and the appliances
and electronics we use each day. And by modernizing our badly outdated
electrical grid, we can make that sure more of the energy we already
produce actually makes it to those homes, offices, and factories.
“I am pleased that a bipartisan group in the House has introduced
legislation to repeal this authority. This provision–never debated on
the floor–tramples on our public lands, historically sensitive areas,
private property rights, and the constitutional authority of states. We
look forward to working with the Congress to right this wrong as quickly
as possible.”
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