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- Title
PREEMPTING PAROCHIALISM AND PROTECTIONISM IN POWER.
- Authors
Vaheesan, Sandeep
- Abstract
In the twenty-first century, the electric power industry is becoming increasingly regional in geographic scope. Due to the creation of wholesale power markets and the development of renewable energy resources, greater quantities of power flow across state lines today than at any time in the history of the industry. With this growth in the interstate trade in power, expanding the transmission grid can yield significant regional benefits. New transmission lines can enhance system reliability, produce lower and more stable power prices, and improve the environment on a local and global scale. While the benefits of new transmission are broadly shared, the costs of new transmission--both economic and non-economic--tend to be concentrated in the localities through which the lines run. Despite the potentially large benefits from new transmission interconnections, aggregate transmission investment has stagnated in recent decades, in part, because of state jurisdiction over transmission siting. To facilitate the construction of socially beneficial grid expansions, Congress should preempt state and local authority over the siting and funding of new transmission lines. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should be granted exclusive authority over where to site and who pays for new transmission. A federal regulator would approve transmission projects based on a comprehensive examination of their benefits and costs, instead of the parochial assessment often performed today by states. Congress would be acting well within its constitutional authority and would, in fact, be following past legislative enactments in other network industries. Congress must act if the United States is to realize the vision of affordable, reliable, and clean electricity for all Americans.
- Subjects
UNITED States; UNITED States. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; PROTECTIONISM; RENEWABLE energy sources; JURISDICTION; MARKET power; ELECTRONIC industries; COMPUTER network resources
- Publication
Harvard Journal on Legislation, 2012, Vol 49, Issue 1, p87
- ISSN
0017-808X
- Publication type
Article