The big picture will be the focus of the Energy Department's National Transmission Grid Study, which took off from Vice President Dick Cheney's National Energy Policy report of 17 May 2001. The new study was to "examine the benefits of establishing a national electrical grid, identifying major transmission bottlenecks and remedies to remove them."

Task forces, involving many of the experts who took part in the POST study, were set up to evaluate the issues in detail. Planning and the need for new capacity, plus siting and permitting, were areas of investigation. Others were business models for investment and operation, the operation of interconnected transmission systems, reliability management and oversight, and new transmission technologies.

Study participants have been unusually tight-lipped about what the report will say, but several issues came to the fore during the process. State governors, for example, howled at the idea of the federal government gaining the power to site transmission lines without state approval. Sensitized, the Energy secretary's office took a draft of their department's report and ran it by representatives of the governors' organization, while DOE staffers are talking about cooperative, coordinated efforts. FERC will establish regional panels to "strengthen its relationships with the states."

One proposal floated would require federal legislation to give local and state authorities a year for a first try at siting and then allow FERC to override them with a certificate of public convenience or necessity. But permitting is not the only problem: also to be taken into account are uncertain returns on transmission investment; an unclear regulatory climate; and reluctance to host power lines mainly benefiting other states.

Regional differences and questions of who ultimately should pay for the added transmission also are cans of worms. Lower-cost power areas and some traditional utilities, notably in the Southeast, are resisting a fast march to more nationalized electricity markets.

Why are study participants holding their cards so close to their chest? They are under strict instructions not to talk till the report is officially released. Asked if this is because the Bush administration is looking to get the biggest bang for the buck, or whether it's just its general operating style to clamp down on leaks, one participant said, "No. I think they just want to assure that when the study is reported, it will be reported accurately."

To get the story straight from the horse's mouth, watch for the release of the NTGS 2001 study on the DOE site: http://www.doe.gov.