The above quote is from Harry Reid, who along with Capitol Hill and the new president want to pass federal legislation granting the Feds the power to place transmission lines no matter what local people, or state authorities, want.
You can hear NPR's discussion "Gathering Puts Energy Into Improving Power Grid" at this link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101082181&ft=1&f=1006&sc=emaf (you will need Flash Player to listen to it) Link sent by Nancy Peyron in Baker County
Julie Shelton sent the following story from Associated Press 2/23:
Federal officials debate placement of power grid
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic congressional leaders and the Obama administration indicated Monday that they will push for greater federal authority to locate electric transmission lines, saying a national power grid stands in the way of developing alternative energy sources.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he will soon introduce legislation that includes giving federal regulators authority to override states on electric grid placement decisions as part of a package of energy proposals the Senate is expected to take up in the coming weeks.
"We cannot let 231 state regulators hold up progress," Reid said, referring to the members of state public utility commissions that decide on transmission locations in the states. He said states should be given every opportunity to participate, but that "there may come a time when the federal government will have to step in," including directing the taking of land for grid corridors.
A clean energy conference that included former Vice President Al Gore and former President Bill Clinton focused extensively on the need for a national "smart" grid to transport electricity, including an expansion of the system to bring wind and solar energy from remote locations to the nation's cities.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he was ready to open energy corridors on federal land, but that the power grid of today cannot move renewable energy from where it is located to where it is needed. . .
States have fought to maintain jurisdiction over the location of the power grid.
Fred Butler, who is chairman of New Jersey's association of utility regulators, said state officials are willing to work with the federal government on placement issues. "We are opposed to the federal takeover of the siting authority," he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also called for expansion of the nation's power transmission grid and development of a "smart grid" that allows increased efficiency and access to remote wind and solar energy resources.
Former New York Gov. George Pataki, one of the few Republicans at the conference, said the federal government must get more involved in establishing power transmission lines.
"If you try to run a wire through someone's community that becomes about as contentious as you get," said Pataki, and if that power is going through a state "you don't have to take a poll, no one is going to be for it" . . .
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hP1MeJ5rEOxzGy1ncVpvaaQDhIxgD96HFMP00
