Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he will introduce legislation this week to speed approvals of transmission lines that send renewable power across the U.S.

“My legislation will require the president to designate renewable energy zones with significant clean energy-generating potential,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said at a conference in Washington today sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The federal government would gain new authority to site power lines under Reid’s proposal, an idea that drew opposition from state regulators.

President Barack Obama has committed to build 3,000 miles of new power lines and to double renewable energy use by 2012. The $787 billion economic stimulus legislation Obama signed last week includes at least $61 billion for clean energy spending, and is laced with other provisions intended to promote clean energy.

Power grid operators in the eastern half of the U.S. earlier this month released a study estimating that more than $80 billion in new transmission infrastructure would be needed to get 20 percent of the region’s electricity from wind generation by 2024.

“We think as much as 20 percent of our energy should come from renewables,” Reid said today on Bloomberg Television.

As part of his legislation, “a massive planning effort will begin in all the interconnection areas of the country to maximize the use of that renewable potential by building new transmission capacity,” Reid said at the conference. The conference was organized by a group headed by John Podesta, who ran Obama’s transition office.

Clear Authority

Reid said the federal government would be given clear authority to get the new transmission lines built on schedule if the process “falters.”

The measure would give the federal government, through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, eminent domain authority to site power lines if the states are unable to get plans approved, Reid told reporters after the conference.

“We cannot let 231 state regulators hold up progress,” Reid said. “They should be given every opportunity to see if we can work this out through the state regulators. If that can’t be done I think there are very few alternatives for the American people,” other than eminent domain.

The chairman of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, a Washington-based group that represents state regulators, said the group opposes moving jurisdiction over planning, siting and construction of transmission to the federal level.

“You cannot do this all by eminent domain,” said Frederick Butler, a commissioner on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and chairman of the group.

‘A Long Time’

“We realize that it has taken a long time to build transmission,” Butler told reporters after the meeting. His organization is “having a discussion in-house as to what we want to do to refine our position and perhaps adapt it to this new reality.”

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2005 gained new authority to permit power lines in areas deemed congested, if state regulators fail to act within a year. The commission has yet to use that authority.

“There needs to be some clarification” of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authority over transmission, Jon Wellinghoff, acting chairman of the agency, said in an interview after the conference. The agency could gain new authorities under Reid’s plan.

Reid’s proposal “shows that this is at the top of the Congress’s agenda,” Wellinghoff said.

Bingaman

Senator Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told reporters that he hasn’t seen Reid’s legislation yet. He said Reid’s proposal would be considered as part of broader energy legislation that Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, hopes to have through his committee in “four to six weeks.”

Bingaman’s legislation will include a federal standard for renewable-energy use and proposals to improve energy efficiency.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tina Seeley in Washington at tseeley@bloomberg.net; Daniel Whitten in Washington at dwhitten2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 23, 2009 15:03 EST