The U.S. Department of Energy announced yesterday that it would reconsider its October decision to designate a vast region of the northeastern United States as energy-congested and in need of additional electric transmission, handing a temporary victory to opponents of a local power project.

In a two-paragraph order, the department stated that "in order to afford additional time for consideration of the matters raised in the rehearing requests," it would grant new hearings into a plan that created a national interest electric transmission corridor, or NIETC, in 52 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties and in seven other states in the Northeast.

An identical order was issued in the Southwest, where 10 counties in California and Arizona will be affected.

The Northeast's NIETC would ease the way for a number of electric transmission projects in states such as New York and Pennsylvania.

Locally, protesters are concerned about a plan from Greensburg-based Allegheny Power to construct a 37-mile, 500-kilovolt power line through Washington and Greene counties.

The project is under review now by the state Public Utility Commission. If the state denies the permit, makes no decision within a year or places too many restrictions on the company, Allegheny Power would have the right to seek a permit from the federal government.

The local portion of the project would involve construction of two new substations in southwestern Pennsylvania and a 240-mile transmission line, extending from Washington and Greene counties to existing substations in West Virginia, ending in northern Virginia.

The DOE received 71 rehearing requests from residents and government officials, including Gov. Ed Rendell, PUC Chairman Wendell F. Holland, state Sen. J. Barry Stout, D-Bentleyville, and state Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Waynesburg.

Last month, the PUC also filed suit in U.S. District Court, saying the DOE ignored comments from hundreds of Pennsylvania residents in letters and during a June public hearing in South Park.

The final northeastern NIETC designation plan was not altered from a draft plan released earlier this year, a major point of contention among opponents.

The PUC has not been granted the stay it requested while appeals are considered. It has maintained that the corridor "is overly broad," calling the plan beyond the scope intended by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That act called for the designated corridors in response to a widespread August 2003 blackout affecting much of the Northeast.

PUC press secretary Jennifer Kocher characterized the decision as "a step in the right direction," but said it was basically a procedural measure.

Because the NIETC plan is now in limbo, Piedmont Environmental Council's director of communications, Robert Lazaro, said the decision would likely hamper the ability to file federal lawsuits against it.

But local protesters, who have cited concerns about safety, property values and other issues, were buoyed by yesterday's decision.

"I think this is huge," said Greene County Commissioner Pam Snyder. "I'm just extraordinarily pleased that the DOE is listening to what the public are saying. ... It gives us additional reason to hope."