Another Power Grab?
Once again, the federal government is using a disaster as the spearhead for a power grab. This time, the target is the ability to "condemn" private property over the objections of land owners and municipalities, to site power stations, lines, and all of the accompanying gunk that goes with it. I'm watching Spencer Abraham, the Shrub's Energy Secretary, and he bemoaned the fact that the states and municipalities were fighting them on zoning grounds, etc.
We have already seen the hundreds of examples of power grabs using a disaster as the impetus. My personal favorite is the establishment of an ADIZ, "defense zone" around Washington, DC to protect important federal potintates from the horrors of general aviation. This new airspace restructuring went through without so much as a rulemaking.
Once the Congressional sheep are convinced that we must prevent possible terrorist attacks on the electrical grid (including the terrorist attacks by the cheapness of presidents of power companies, I suppose), then you will see federal power placing power lines through your backyard, schoolyard, or parkland.
I can only shudder to think of what might be next.