Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell today filed final comments with the U.S. Department of Energy in opposition to the proposed Mid-Atlantic Area National Corridor. The Governor argued such a designation is premature, supplants the commonwealth's rights and may lead to projects that do not satisfy the needs of the state or nation.

"The commonwealth and its citizens have some grave reservations about the Department of Energy's broad designation," said Governor Rendell. "Any designation should reflect the need for additional transmission capacity, but there is little evidence that Pennsylvania has obstructed siting projects in any way. The Public Utility Commission has not refused a proposed transmission project, so we find little need for the federal government to seek to assert this authority.

"On top of that, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's ability to disregard a state's evaluation of a proposed project challenges Pennsylvania's rights. FERC may force Pennsylvania to accept projects that are far from the best choice.

"These transmission lines will be on our soil, depreciate our property values, but they may not benefit our consumers. This is simply unacceptable," added the Governor.

The Governor also questioned if FERC would adequately consider conservation, alternative technologies and different routes -- something the commission's final order does not seem to address. The Governor said the language suggests that a proposed project alone can define FERC's scope of review, in other words, allowing the commission to ignore other options.

The Governor said this rule leaves far too much uncertainty and warrants further explanation

Rendell's comments today continue Pennsylvania's opposition to the corridor designation.

In a June 8 letter, Rendell told Energy Department Secretary Samuel W. Bodman that the Mid-Atlantic Area National Corridor, as outlined by the Department of Energy, is so expansive that it is meaningless. The Governor argued that if the Department of Energy must designate such areas to protect the reliability of transmission capacity and the country's best interests, it should have identified specific needs and routes necessary to meet those demands.

Additionally, Daniel Griffiths, director of Pennsylvania's Bureau of Energy Innovations and Technology Deployment, testified before the Department of Energy in Pittsburgh on June 13 about the proposal.

Griffiths echoed the Governor's concerns and asked if a corridor that includes 50 of our 67 counties realistically be related to actual transmission options, and said that the commonwealth has worked aggressively over the last four-and-a-half years to expand its clean and renewable energy production industries.

He added that many of the proposed transmission lines bypass parts of Pennsylvania where clean, new generation is coming online and, instead, pull power from old, dirty plants to the east and south of the state.