National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NITECs)

Stop the federal government from making it easier to build Sunrise Powerlink. New federal decision would give SDG&E the right to seize private property to build transmission lines. Contact your member of Congress today!

What is this new federal decision?

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directed the Department of Energy to analyze areas of the country to determine if there were places where a lack of electricity transmission capacity affected the national interest. If such areas are identified then the department can designate them as National Interest Energy Transmission Corridors (NIETC).

SDG&E has pushed hard for a corridor to be designated in the San Diego area. Last week the Department of Energy (DOE) gave SDG&E and other large utilities what they wanted by issuing a draft designation creating a "corridor" that covers nearly all of southern California, the southwest corner of Arizona and the Las Vegas area.

SDG&E wanted the designation because the Energy Policy Act of 2005 grants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the authority to preempt the authority of any state or local governments regarding new transmission projects. For example, if California rejected the risky, expensive and unneeded Sunrise Powerlink project, then the federal government could go ahead and approve the line.

If the federal government approved Sunrise Powerlink or any other transmission line in this vast "corridor," the company building the line could use eminent domain to seize private lands. On its website about these corridors, the Department of Energy says: "Such a federal permit would empower the project developer to exercise the right of eminent domain to acquire necessary property rights to build the facilities. However, that authority could only be exercised if the developer could not acquire the property by negotiation . . ."

Letters to DOE on NIETC re: Sunrise Powerlink

CPUC Comments Against NIETCs