BERLIN, Conn., Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A U.S. agency is weighing taking oversight of power line construction projects out of state control and placing them under federal authority, officials said.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission -- which oversees interstate electricity sales, wholesale electric rates and hydroelectric licensing -- sees a possible U.S. takeover of the siting of power line construction projects as a way of lowering prices and improving electrical transmission, FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher said.
FERC has not proposed legislation that would take siting power away from the states but Kelliher's remarks could affect 12 miles of overhead power lines proposed for north-central Connecticut, the Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported.
FERC, rather than the Connecticut Siting Council, would approve the siting of $714 million in high-voltage replacement lines that Northeast Utilities' Connecticut Light & Power Co. wants to build as part of an overhaul of the state's aging and inefficient transmission system.
The lines would be taller than existing lines and run parallel to them along existing rights of way.
Opponents insist the new lines, going into Massachusetts, must be installed underground regardless of the cost to electricity customers.
"FERC may have an agenda to improve the reliability and strength of the power grid, but that doesn't mean that they should be able to come in and bulldoze anything in their path," Citizens Against Overhead Power Line Construction founder Richard Legere told the Courant.
