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�� i ;, � _ circles that under present law a municipal ty cannot prevent such a transmission line from crossin� its boundarie�s and there is serious question whether it has any authority to con:trol its routing. The �eneral procedure fcrllowed by N.S.P. has been to conduct fts own stud;tes to determine the route location and then announce what the route Iacation wili be through the affected municipalities. These reconnnendl- �t3ons are presented to the councils of the affect�d municipalfties for their concurence and in some instnnces some modifications or con- sessions are made by N.S.P. in the course of these "negotiations." Perhaps the most glaring shortcoming of the present method of decision- making is that there is no mechanism to assure that the �nterests of the metropolitan area as a whole are best served by the proposed routing of the transmission 13ne. However, there are a number Qf other short comin�s both fram the point of view af municipalities and from that af N. S. P. First, as indicated above, the legal suthority of municipalities is fll defined and therp is no established procedure for resolving questions or issues when agreement cannot be reached. As a practical matter, the scal�s are w+ei�hted in favor of N.S.P. in the cAurse of these "negotiations." Furthermore, municipalities are reluctant to appeal to the courts for fear their limited preogatives and influence on these questions will be completely eliminated. �trangely enough, N.S.P. is not araxious for a court test either since if the court vested N.S.P. with complete autriority to determine t}�� routing and constru�tion of these transmissfon Iines, tl�is would also mak� N.S.P. completely resQonsible for any proble�ns or unhappines� that resulted from these developments. In terms a� its public relations this could seriously erode a relgtively good "image" that N.S.P. has attempted to develop over the years. Second, in following the present prac�ice, N.S.P. must necessarily develop its proposed route locativas in a rather secretive manner since once they become public knowledge they are in esse�:scs "frozen" and as a practieal matter no substantial modifiCation �.s possible. This i� because any change which would res�lt in shifting the transmission line from one municipal�ty ta another would have a disasterous e�f�et on public relations for N.S.P. Thus, even though the route selections may have been preceded by �he most exhaus�tive research and study, the unwillingnass to consider substantive changes on�ce they have been announced gives the appearance of being very arbitary indeed. While the present practice of giving N.S.P. virtually unlimited power an the Iocation and construction of electrical transmission lines has resulted in certain very disfi inet pro bl�ns. The evidence would seem to indieate that the solut ion is unlikeZy to lie i.n t}�e dir�ection of giving municipalities veto power over the xou�ing of sueh transmissiara lines. Obviously if the needs of the public far electric pawer are to be met, such transmissYon facilities must be rauted through certain vil�ages and cities in the metro�oZitan area. As a consequence, giving munici�alities the veto power in this area, as they Qresently have in the area of highwa� routing, could easily result in an impass which would