The U.S. Department of Energy said Friday it would partner with a private firm hoping to build a transmission line to carry wind power from the High Plains to the southeastern United States, angering Arkansas politicians who believe the federal government is helping the project bypass state utility regulators.
The agency, invoking the infrastructure-improvement Energy Policy Act of 2005, said it would participate in the 705-milePlains & Eastern Clean Line transmission project, designed to move up to 4,000 megawatts of power from the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles into western Tennessee.
