Some people are calling for the building of major transmission infrastructure between the wind-rich Midwest and… everywhere else. The calls for increased federal power and the spending of other people’s money are allegedly for a really good purpose: the ability to deliver “clean”, “green” wind power from the middle of nowhere to where the people actually live. But there problems with this “plan.”
First, the “plan” is not a plan, therefore it doesn’t have any opponents. However, once the Feds layout details of where the lines will be placed and how the feds will seize power from states and regions, then there will be plenty of opposition. In a word, NIMBY. For example, private developers want to build the 180 mile, $2+ billion dollar NYRI transmission line in New York and the locals are fighting like hell.
Second, allegedly noble purposes aside, there will be a significant side effect. You see, any transmission system that can move new clean power from “coast to coast” can just as well move ol’ dirty bastard power from coast to coast. I mean, if you’re going to have that much transmission capacity going to some middle-of-nowhere place like North Dakota, it’s not going to take long for people who build coal and nuke plants to decide that North Dakota is a great place for coal and nuke plants.
