In 2011, the 2006 Transmission Congestion Study and the 2007 designations of the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors were vacated by the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California Wilderness Coalition v. US DOE.
The Ninth Circuit Court also vacated the NIETC designations made in 2007 based on DOE's failure to adequately consider the environmental impacts of such designations as required under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) [REF].