Rep. DeWeese

House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D-Greene) and 38 of his House Democratic colleagues are supporting the efforts of U.S. Senators Bob Casey and Arlen Specter, who are requesting a U.S. Senate investigation into the implementation of the 2005 federal law that allows power lines to be built across 52 of 67 Pennsylvania counties without input from the Commonwealth or local authorities.

That law “has the potential to disrupt the fundamental balance of power between local, state, and federal governments in land use issues,” Rep. DeWeese and the others wrote in a letter this week to U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Sen. Pete V. Domenici, the committee’s ranking member.

Since early 2007, Rep. DeWeese has led the state House of Representatives’ opposition to the U.S. Department of Energy's plan to, and subsequent designation of, most of Pennsylvania as a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor. In April 2007, Rep. DeWeese traveled to Washington, D.C. to testify before Congress about the consequences for public and private property regarding these federal electric transmission corridors. Last month in Harrisburg, Rep. DeWeese joined Casey, local community activists and other public officials for a panel discussion on the issue.

In their letter, the state legislators conclude that the DOE decision “(1) favors the economic interests of energy companies over that of landowners, (2) ignores the will of people and communities who may favor environmentally friendly and cheaper energy alternatives and renewable energy over intrusive and perhaps unhealthy transmission lines, (3) threatens the environment, historical and cultural heritage; (4) preempts local and state governments’ fundamental and traditional power to decide land use policies; and (5) usurps the authority of states to review, approve, and locate transmission lines within their geographic borders.

“… We maintain that any plan promoting reliability of the transmission grid and homeland security that would require stringing high voltage transmission lines hundreds and hundreds of miles from generation capacity to fuel urban centers is contrary to the clean energy, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and homeland security goals espoused in the EPact 2005 and, arguably, antithetical to the concept of global warming.

“Therefore, we support the efforts of Senator Casey and conclude that a Congressional investigation and oversight of the DOE’s implementation of section 1221 is warranted. The citizens of Pennsylvania and of other NIETC States should be assured that the broad authority assumed by the DOE from its interpretation of section 1221 complies with the intent of the Congress and is in the national interest. We submit that the intent of the Congress would be better served by NIETC designations that target specific congestion and recognize the physical laws governing electric transmission rather than massive corridors without lines of demarcation,” the letter concludes.

For more information, visit Rep. DeWeese’s website.

2/29/2008