Marshall: Sue The Department Of Energy
By Greg L | 15 May 2007 | 13th HOD District, Virginia Politics | 2 Comments
Delegate Bob Marshall is on the warpath again, this time about what’s increasingly looking like an effort by the Department of Energy to ram through a declaration of Prince William County as a “National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor”, and extend eminent domain powers on behalf of Dominion Power over the entire county. Delegate Marshall is calling on the state to sue the Department of Energy. This sounds like a good idea to me.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007, Arlington, Virginia
Remarks of Delegate Bob Marshall, 13th District
Re: Department of Energy Docket No. 2007-OE-01Daniel Webster defined “Due Process” in the Dartmouth College Case as “a law which hears before it condemns, which proceeds upon inquiry, and renders judgment only after trial.”
The Department of Energy in establishing draft National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor designations has completely reversed Webster’s venerable due process dictum.
I can say this with complete confidence because of the following facts:
Governor Kaine’s Office informed my staff that no Department of Energy notice of such draft designations was communicated to the Governor’s office before the DOE publication of its two draft corridors.
The three Commissioners of the State Corporation Counsel, who are charged with the regulation of electric utilities throughout Virginia, informed me that they were not contacted by the Department of Energy regarding draft corridor designations.
Last November, 2006 Attorney General Bob McDonnell, who represents Virginia consumers in utility concerns, and mindful of Virginia’s prized historic and environmental resources, reminded US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, “that in determining the location of a NIETC, federal law requires that the federal government consult with its state counterparts. This has not occurred at this point.”
The notice and participation required by both federal law and due process requirements to include Virginia Officials in the Department of Energy’s deliberations to establish congestion corridors in the Commonwealth never happened at any point. That is why on April 30, I publicly urged Attorney General McDonnell to sue the US Department of Energy, “for failure to grant Virginia and our citizens due process rights.” I renew that request today.
The eminent domain powers you are turning over to private energy conglomerates can adversely affect the lives, liberties, homes and businesses of more than 49 million citizens covering 116,627 square miles, yet you are holding only four public hearings! How many hours of consultation were provided to the energy conglomerates? They were certainly not limited to hurried two-minute presentations at inconvenient times when most Americans are at work, or in school!
George III gave American colonists more procedural consideration than the Department of Energy has given Virginia in its NIETC designations. I am hopeful that a law suit will make the DOE start over, and this time pay attention to the fundamental requirements of democratic government.
If you want to contact Attorney General Bob McDonnell and add your voice to this call, his email address is mail@oag.state.va.us.
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It sounds like Dominion is using its large cash reserves to lobby the Fed, and the Fed in-turn will use the DOE as its attack dog. I can’t see how the corridor has anything to do with inter-state commerce, which is what the Fed uses when it wants to meddle in affairs that are clearly the provice of the States.
Is it DOE or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission? FERC does a lot of these transmission line licenses and environmental impact studies. Apparently, there is a provision in the most recent Energy Bill (from 2005, maybe?) that allows the White House to get directly involved if FERC does not grant permits within a specified period of time. Note that FERC is an independent agency, not part of DOE.