WASHINGTON (AP) - There's some good news today for upstate New
York residents and public officials fighting a proposed high-voltage power line.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Energy say they'll re-examine a decision to declare a large swath of the mid-Atlantic states a priority area for new power lines.

The agency plans to grant a re-hearing on its earlier decision to declare two areas of the country "national interest electric transmission corridors." Such a designation is aimed at boosting power line construction in order to ease the threat of blackouts.

But local groups in upstate New York and elsewhere have opposed
such proposed lines, saying they are ugly, unnecessary, and diminish the quality of life.

Part of the proposed mid-Atlantic power corridor includes a 200-mile stretch from the Utica area to the lower Hudson Valley.

Albany-based New York Regional Interconnect has proposed building
the power line, a project strongly opposed by communities along the
intended route.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)