Order No. 1977 sets FERC backstop siting procedure; DOE corridor designation sets its scope

Order No. 1977, issued in RM22-7-000, established the Commission's revised procedures for applications to site interstate electric transmission facilities under its backstop authority. The authority applies within National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors, which the Department of Energy designates.

The procedural rule addresses application content, engagement requirements with affected landowners and Tribes, and the sequencing of state proceedings before federal review. What it cannot do is expand its own geographic reach.

For a transmission developer, this makes corridor designation the first-order question and the FERC procedure the second. A project outside a designated corridor remains a state siting matter, with each state's commission applying its own need and route standards, and with the schedule determined by the slowest jurisdiction on the route.

For an investor, the practical read is that backstop authority reduces tail risk in a narrow set of geographies rather than changing the base case for interstate lines generally.

What to watch: the interaction between corridor designations and any state proceeding that has been pending long enough to trigger the federal path.