Updated by Staff

A report recently released by the law firm Holland & Hart is well worth reading by policymakers  in Wyoming and throughout the West who are seeing new solar and wind power developments in their states. Entitled  ”Transmission Siting in the Western United States,” the study examines the  huge need for modernizing our electrical grid in order to harness all the renewable energy resources, and concludes that we’re not off to a good start. The report cites the myriad authorities shared by federal, state and local entities as being the biggest obstacle to progress.

“The bottom line is if Western states want to retain a significant role in siting transmission for renewable fuels, things have got to change or the feds will take over,” said James Holtkamp, manager of Holland & Hart’s global climate change practice.

Holtkamp is the co-author of the report, along with Holland & Hart partner, Mark Davidson.  The Western Interstate Energy Board, which is the energy arm of  the Western Governors’ Association, commissioned the report.

The role of Wyoming offers an interesting view of just what some states in the West are facing. Roughly  15,000 megawatts worth of new electrical generation would become available in Wyoming and neighboring Rocky Mountain states if several major electrical transmission proposals are fully developed, according to the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority. Much of the capacity is in anticipation of renewable energy.

Moving the energy to power markets, however, remains the dilemma. For example, getting Wyoming’s world-class wind  to urban markets in California would require a Wyoming-to-California transmission line, which would certainly be of interest to Wyoming and California, but not necessarily to the counties in states where the transmission line would be run because it doesn’t offer any benefit to citizens in those states.

Already, congressional proposals to give the federal government broader authority on where to locate transmission lines in the West are being proposed in Washington D.C. While  the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) does have regulatory authority over such interstate facilities, Holtkamp and others contend Western states might be better served to cooperate on such matters.

“If there’s a federal oversight, there’s a public process. But I’m not sure the interest of the stakeholders could be addressed as well,” Holtkamp told a reporter for the Casper Tribune. “We suggest states do a better job coordinating with the feds.”

Still, several prominent political leaders in the West are supporting  an active presence by the federal government. In Wyoming, Gov. Dave Freudenthal’s press secretary, Cara Eastwood, said he supports the federal government as a leading partner with Western states, although he did not take a position on whether the federal government should have overriding authority.

“It’s not exclusively a state decision or exclusively a federal decision,” Eastwood said. “Ultimately, the federal government needs to have a way to make it work, and right now it’s not working.”

The full report from Holland & Hart is available at www.westgov.org.