Pennsylvania Utility Regulator Loses Appeal to Block Power Line

Federal objectives outweighed the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s decision to deny an electric transmission project application, the Third Circuit ruled Friday in a loss for the commission.

“The conflict between the PUC order at issue here and the foregoing federal objectives is clear,” the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said, upholding a lower court’s finding that the commission violated the Constitution.

Transource Pennsylvania LLC in 2021 challenged the PUC’s decision denying the company’s application to build electricity transmission lines in the state. Those applications were part of a project selected through a federal process to ...