Kansas Senator Jerry Moran said he has been hearing concerns from state residents about a proposed National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor.  One of the proposed routes for the corridor would go through southwestern Kansas into central and northeastern areas of the state.

The U.S. Department of Energy is proposing the corridor as a way to protect consumers from higher electricity prices, more frequent power outages from extreme weather, and longer outages as the grid struggles to come back online.  The Federal Power Act authorizes the Secretary of Energy to designate any geographic area as a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) if the Secretary finds that consumers are harmed by a lack of transmission in the area and that the development of new transmission would advance important national interests in that area, such as increased reliability and reduced consumer costs.

Moran said he has heard from Kansans who live and work along the proposed path of the Corridor, and there is concern and opposition.  He said their message to the government is that “Their land is not for sale and is not to be taken.”

Moran said he will introduce legislation to protect Kansans’ private property from being seized by the federal government to build the corridor.  He said he has talked with Energy Department officials and they have assured him they will continue to accept comments and take them into consideration.

[ map:  U.S. Department of Energy ]