On December 4 the United States Department of Energy announced that it will "reconsider" its October, 2007, decision to designate 7 cities and 15 counties in northern Virginia, part of the mid-Atlantic-area "National Electric Transmission Corridor."

In theory the NETC designation simply allowed the Secretary of Energy to expedite construction of the electric grid in areas where "transmission congestion or constraint adversely affects consumers . . . ."

In practice the decision provided Dominion Virginia Power with what some critics called an "easy out" if their plans to build a 240-mile, above-ground, high-voltage transmission line across some of the most scenic and historically significant areas of northern Virginia, ran into trouble at the state or local level.

Indeed, in the words of the Energy Department, if Dominion Virginia did "not receive approval from a State to site a proposed new transmission facility within a National Corridor," it could simply "apply to FERC [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] for a permit and authorization to construct the facility."

Opposition to the usurpation of State and local authority inherent in an NETC designation united Democrats and Republicans, county and local officials, developers and environmentalists, throughout the affected areas of northern Virginia.

Governor Tim Kaine, a Democrat, and Republican Attorney General Robert McDonnell stood together, contending that the designation, in Virginia's case, was both "unnecessary" and, in essence, "illegal."

Both applauded the Energy Department's "reconsideration" and its promise to give renewed requests for exclusion "full consideration" and the time necessary to "thoroughly evaluate" their rationale.

For opponents of the Dominion Virginia Power line, however, the Energy Department's decision, while helpful, was little more than a small and all-too-likely temporary victory. The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) planned "Information Briefings" in Marshall on December 6, and in Jeffersonton on November 11, outlining the on-going threat posed by Dominion Virginia's plans. Virginians for Sensible Energy Policies (VSEP) continues to make the case that the proposed new transmission lines have little or nothing to do with Virginia's power needs. Indeed, VSEP contends, they are essentially designed to transport electricity produced by inefficient, coal-burning plants to our west, through Virginia, to feed the energy needs of major cities on the east coast, at tremendous a profit.