Federal authority will strengthen efforts to site critical electric transmission lines in the Mid-Atlantic (1.64 MB )and Southwest (1.49 MB ). But the Energy Dept.’s first-ever designation of “national interest electric transmission corridors” won’t unleash an onslaught of transmission construction, say power industry officials.

Moving a project into the federal arena for permits would “add an&other layer of oversight,” says Ed Legge, spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute, Washington, D.C. The new federal “backstop” permitting authority is “more of an insurance policy,” he says.

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, transmission developers within the designated corridors can appeal to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission when states fail to approve their projects after one year. The designations are in effect until 2019.

One corridor runs from Southern California to Phoenix; the other stretches from northern Virginia to New York City, including parts of Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and all of the District of Columbia, New Jersey and Delaware.

It is “doubtful” the DOE-designated corridors would see greater activity based on the new federal permitting authority, says Bob Mitchell, CEO of independent transmission developer Trans-Elect, Reston, Va., which is developing a 250-mile line between Wyoming and Colorado. “When it comes to states’ rights issues, there is a lot the federal government has a right to do that it does not do because it is way too controversial,” he says.