Regional or National Transmission Buildout in the US ?

As I blogged previously, expanding the US electric transmission network is believed to be essential to improve reliability, remove conjestion, and to enable access to new sources of renewable energy.  Section 216 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed during Bush/Cheney administration, was intended to address the problem of accelerating the expansion of a national transmission network by giving the federal Department of Energy (DoE) the power to designate National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETCs) where there are significant transmission limitations adversely affecting the public and giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the power to authorize federal permits for transmission projects in these regions.  These permits included giving the transmission providers the power of expropriation.

But there have been two sucessful court challenges against Section 216.  In the most recent decision, California Wilderness Coalition v. U.S. Dept. of Energy, the Court voided a Department of Energy Transmission Congestion Study that designated national interest electric transmission corridors in the mid-Atlantic and Southwestern states, because the Court said that DoE had not consulted with the states and had ignored environnmental laws.  There was also a court decision in 2009 relating to a transmission corridor in eastern states, that prevented FERC from overuling a state's denial of a transmission permit application.

At this point it's becoming increasingly hard to see how a national transmission grid is going to be built in the US.  It looks like regional transmission buildouts are more likely.