Designates

The long-awaited draft plan that designates energy transport corridors on federal lands in 11 western states for developing future oil, natural gas and hydrogen pipelines, as well as electricity transmission and distribution lines, was unveiled Thursday.

What happens if the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) designates a national interest electric transmission corridor (NIETC) in the United States and nobody steps forward with a proposed transmission project? A DOE official last Tuesday said this scenario would be a “challenge,” noting the lack of “carrots and sticks” available to address such a situation, at least at the federal level. States and regions should start thinking about how they would respond to such an eventuality, said the DOE’s Poonum Agrawal.