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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Tom
Andrews |
Majority Leader Bill
DeWeese |
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DeWeese tells Congress to ‘Stop the Towers’
House Majority Leader says states should retain authority to site power lines
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 25 – During testimony today before a Congressional subcommittee, House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese called for the repeal of a portion of the 2005 federal energy act which he claims usurps states’ authority to site high voltage transmission lines within their borders.
“(This federal law) is void of public benefit, ignores environmentally clean, renewable, energy-efficient and cost-effective alternatives, and sacrifices the traditional power of states to adopt, administer, and manage land use policies and decisions, especially if a decision would conflict with the ambitions of profit-motivated corporations seeking to locate and construct high voltage transmission lines,” said DeWeese, D-Greene/Fayette/Washington.
“If the (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) is permitted to use its congressionally conveyed authority to commandeer and usurp the traditional role of states and their administrative agencies to review and approve the location and construction of high voltage transmission lines, Pennsylvania, not unlike every other state, would have no control, no say, and no recourse other than expensive litigation; over transmission planning, location, and construction within its geographic borders. However, there is a remedy: the repeal of section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
“I submit that without repeal, implementation of section 1221 could be viewed as one of several acts in a national drama choreographed to alter fundamentally our form of government in the name of ‘national security,’” DeWeese continued.
DeWeese spoke before the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Domestic Policy for the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is examining sweeping new federal authority to site electric transmission lines throughout the country.
“There are alternatives to high voltage transmission lines. However, our failure to require consistent investment in alternative energy has us here today discussing what may become another failed national energy policy. Gasoline prices continue to rise at alarming rates; we remain dependent on foreign oil; and whether or not there will be adequate investment in conservation, renewable and alternative energy remains elusive. It is clear that we cannot continue on this road of energy uncertainty. However … the lives of my constituents and the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should not be disrupted because of an energy policy that ignores their quality of life for the benefit of profit-driven corporations,” he said.
DeWeese has joined local efforts in Washington and Greene counties to stop the 240-mile, 500 kilovolt high voltage Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line (TrAIL) from passing through southwestern Pennsylvania.
His full testimony is available on his Web site www.pahouse.com/DeWeese.
“I submit that if the Department of Energy designates a national interest energy transmission corridor in Pennsylvania with little or no consultation and coordination with all administrative agencies charged with representing the rights and interest of ratepayers and assuring a public benefit, it would be difficult if not impossible to conclude that the project would be in the public interest,” DeWeese continued.
“The accompanying backstop authority conveyed to the FERC could diminish or even eliminate the roles of the PA PUC, the Offices of Consumer and Small Business Advocates, and other administrative agencies that were established for the express purpose of protecting Pennsylvania’s natural, historical, cultural, and recreational resources and, in some cases, reviewing and commenting on transmission line siting applications.”
These agencies include the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Department of Transportation, the Game Commission, and the Historical and Museum Commission.
The subcommittee hearing examined the implementation of Section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Under the act, the Department of Energy may designate areas of the country as National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors. Within these areas, state authority over transmission lines may be pre-empted and new federal eminent domain authority would be available for approved electric utility projects. The Act offers no protections for any nonfederal property falling within a corridor. Therefore, state park land, land protected with conservation easements, historic battlefields, school yards and all private property falling within a corridor would be subject to siting for new electric lines.
“There is no doubt in my mind that section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act should be repealed posthaste. With that, I will continue to oppose efforts to designate national interest electric transmission corridors and any projects seeking to locate and construct interstate high voltage transmission lines in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” DeWeese concluded.
Several hundred residents of southwestern Pennsylvania already have signed the online petition DeWeese is sponsoring in conjunction with other groups dedicated to stopping the TrAIL. It can be found on his Web site at www.pahouse.com/DeWeese.
Earlier this month, DeWeese sent letters enlisting support against the power line to U.S. Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. and Arlen Specter and U.S. Rep. John Murtha. These letters follow Feb. 16 correspondence that DeWeese wrote to Wendell Holland, chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, protesting the power line.
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