Casey: U.S. sapping state power

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, January, 2008 | by Amy Worden Inquirer Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG - With anger mounting over federal plans for a vast East Coast electricity transmission corridor that would cross much of Pennsylvania, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. said yesterday that he would introduce legislation seeking greater state and public input in federal decisions on power-line construction.

The Pennsylvania Democrat said the federal government had ignored the state's concerns when it designated 52 of 67 counties as part of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast corridor last year. "This process is not fair to lots of states," Casey said in an interview after a public forum he held in the Capitol. The transmission corridors are intended to relieve congestion and prevent blackouts like the one that hit the Northeast in 2003. Casey's bill would require the...