U.S. Department of Energy Cancels Three National Transmission Corridors, Calling Them Part of the 'Green New Scam' Agenda

Core Summary

• The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on Wednesday that it will not proceed with the designation of three proposed National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC) selected for review in 2024 under the Biden administration, calling the corridors a "vehicle" to advance that administration's "Green New Scam agenda."
• "Transmission policy must serve the American people, not special interests or the climate alarm agenda—which drives up costs, undermines reliability, and disregards the concerns of local communities," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.
• The DOE statement said that "the current designation framework has proven ineffective in strengthening grid reliability and lowering electricity costs. In some communities, it has also raised confusion and concerns about the scope and intent of NIETC authority."

In-Depth Analysis

The three canceled corridors are: the Lake Erie–Canada Corridor, the Southwestern Grid Connector Corridor, and the Tribal Energy Access Corridor.

Currently, the DOE's webpage on the NIETC process no longer includes detailed information about these three projects. A March 2026cached versionshows that these three proposed corridors were intended to serve multiple purposes, including providing necessary resource adequacy support to the PJM Interconnection grid, providing "interconnection and interregional connections" between the Southwest Power Pool and WestConnect regions, and promoting tribal energy and economic development by "addressing the lack of extra-high-voltage transmission lines."

According to the DOE's current webpage, NIETC designation unlocks federal financing tools, "particularly public-private partnerships," and allows the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to "issue permits for the construction of transmission lines within the NIETC" when state siting authorities lack jurisdiction, have not acted on an application for more than one year, or have denied an application.

The DOE states that an NIETC is an area within the United States where "the agency determines that transmission deficiencies are harming consumers and that new transmission lines would promote important national interests in the region, such as improving reliability and lowering consumer costs."

R-CALF USA, an industry association limited to cattle producer members, praised the DOE's decision. The association had raised concerns in 2024 about the corridor siting, fearing it could "disrupt independent livestock operations" or lead to the loss of necessary grazing and hay land. Other organizations, including the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), criticized the cancellation, saying the DOE is giving up an opportunity to strengthen the grid.

CATF said in a statement that the canceled corridors were intended to "help address areas with severe transmission congestion. Transmission congestion increases costs and reduces reliability for ratepayers."

"If the goal is to provide affordable, reliable, and secure electricity, we should make it easier to build the infrastructure the grid needs—not dismantle the federal framework designed to facilitate its construction," said Nicole Pavia, CATF's Director of Clean Energy Infrastructure Deployment.

EDF noted that despite Wright's claim that the current designation framework "has proven ineffective," the DOE's July-releasedNational Transmission Needs Studystated that NIETC designation "enables DOE and FERC to leverage valuable federal financing and permitting tools to facilitate the construction or modification of transmission facilities within the NIETC." According to the DOE, the National Transmission Needs Study is a three-year report whose findings serve as the basis for NIETC designations.

The DOE also said in its statement that the Trump administration has taken other measures to build new transmission infrastructure and modernize existing facilities, citing billions of dollars in loans from its Office of Energy Dominance Financing for building, rebuilding, and replacing transmission line conductors.