New federal policy risky for environment, some warn

‘‘To the extent that coal-fired power plants have more access to the market, then they’re going to run more. And the more they run, the more they emit,” said Fred Hoover, an Annapolis attorney and a former director of the Maryland Energy Administration.

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would have ‘‘backstop authority” on the location of transmission lines in areas determined to be ‘‘national interest electric transmission corridors.” One such corridor envelops a wide swath of the Eastern Seaboard from Washington to southeastern New York state.

Where power lines go would otherwise be the province of the state Public Service Commission.

‘‘When the power is removed to the level of the federal government, it makes it harder to have a voice,” said Cindy Schwartz, executive director of the League of Conservation Voters, a leading environmental voice in Annapolis.

FERC, however, still would have a project go through the state regulatory process before a utility could apply for the federal backstop provisions, said Allen Staggers, a spokesman for Allegheny Energy of Greensburg, Pa.

Allegheny has a transmission line project that will pass through Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia. But Hoover said the Energy Policy Act took away ‘‘a good chunk” of states’ regulatory powers.

‘‘Congress became convinced that there was a need basically to pre-empt state authority when it came to the siting of transmission lines,” he said. ‘‘I’m not convinced that the states did a terrible job in siting transmission lines.”

Lawrence Brenner agrees. Brenner was Gov. Martin O’Malley’s most recent addition to the PSC. Previously, he was an administrative law judge for FERC.

‘‘The key point is Maryland has well-established, well-regarded process ... to evaluate transmission line proposals,” Brenner said. ‘‘Our point would be, because we have this excellent process, that process should be employed.”

In one sense, the federal regulations mirror what Maryland does on power plants. Because power plants have a benefit for all of Maryland, state law pre-empts county zoning regulations on where power plants can go.

But Hoover pointed out that counties are ‘‘creatures of the state,” and if the state desired, it could change them. The states, he said, came together to form the federal government.

The corridor regulations are similar to what has existed for natural gas pipelines.

The upshot appears to be that coal-fired power plants in West Virginia would find it easier to supply electricity to the power-hungry metropolitan areas to the east.

The FERC moves come as Maryland joins the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, a group of states that have agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.