Environmentalists Sue Energy Department

LOS ANGELES (CN) – The **Department of Energy illegally designated the Southwest Area National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor to allow “fast tracking” of federal permits for energy companies to build and modify power plants and transmission lines, trampling environmental laws and violating a slew of laws on public and private lands, the **Center for Biological Diversity claims in Federal Court. This complaint mirrors one filed this week in Harrisburg Federal Court over an 8-state “corridor” on the East Coast.     In the Pennsylvania complaint, the **National Wildlife Society claims the U.S. Department of Energy violated a slew of federal laws by designating the Mid-Atlantic Area National Interest Electric Corridor, which will allow it to “fast track” environmentally devastating coal-powered electric plants and transmission lines on private and public lands in eight states and the District of Columbia, including 15 national wildlife refuges and 215 parks, state preserves or recreation areas, home to at least 20 threatened or endangered species, the and others claim in Federal Court.