In attempting to draw up the state’s investment policy on transmission lines, at least one California Energy Commission member fears that California is so mired in inertia that the federal government will take over siting the lines. Environmentalists and many regulators are concerned that if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission does use its siting authority, it would railroad environmental sensitivities as well as local control over land use. “Decisions will be federalized unless we get our act together,” said commissioner John Geesman in a September 13 workshop. He added that federal regulators appear “trigger happy” to get into the siting process and that state government employs “a bunch of zombies” in charge of getting transmission projects through the siting queue. The Energy Commission has been trying to wrest control over transmission siting from the California Public Utilities Commission for years. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger got into the act in 2005 when his administration backed a bill to reorganize the Energy Commission by putting it under the governor’s wing and giving it power over transmission in the execution. While legislators generally supported the reorganization, it never passed. Commission staff recommended, among other items, that the state adopt renewable energy feed-in tariffs to smooth the way for transmission lines that primarily transmit non-fossil electricity. Staff also suggests that legislation should be passed to allow investor-owned utilities to keep transmission corridor investments in their ratebase. However, that may run into a policy tangle with the CPUC, which advocates investments in land that lies idle—either for power plants or transmission corridors—to be dismissed from rates as soon as possible. The commission staff recommends 10 major projects, including Palo Verde-Devers 2, Sunrise Powerlink, and the Lake Elsinore Advanced Pumped Storage project. The commission set a November 7 date to adopt transmission policy.