By the time New York Regional Interconnect died a surprising death at a state hearing last year, the proposed 190-mile power line through upstate New York had engendered a long list of opponents.

Among the transmission line's critics at the end were environmental groups, state and local officials at all levels and even power companies like Con Edison that would have been served by the transmission line. Left without a clear path to a profit, the line's developers withdrew their plans after a three-year, multimillion-dollar fight.

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The move was a victory for civic and environmental groups who argued that the project would destroy views, denude thousands of acres of woodlands, physically divide communities and potentially endanger the public health. A year and a half later, though, questions remain: Are New York City's power demands as great—and the state's energy infrastructure as ill-equipped to meet those needs—as power line proponents had said?

And if they are, where will the power come from if not NYRI?

New power transmission proposals have already arisen since NYRI's demise. At their core, and the core of energy policy throughout the state, are a few simple facts: Most of the power consumed in New York is at the state's southeastern corner, in New York City and its suburbs. Most of the power generated, meanwhile, is far upstate to the north and west. And the means of delivering electricity from one end of New York to another—the state's electrical grid—faces congestion at key points that, in times of high demand, can severely strain the link between producers and consumers.

A national need?

In New York, NYRI's backers argued that the line, which would have carried 1,200 megawatts from suppliers upstate and in Canada, was badly needed. When power is available cheaply somewhere and it can't be obtained because of congestion, it has to be purchased somewhere else at a higher price. Congestion on power lines, mostly those near the middle of the state, cost the state $740 million in 2007, they said, citing a federal Department of Energy study.

In its 2009 energy "report card," the American Society of Civil Engineers, which favors new line construction, said that electricity demand nationwide had increased by 25 percent since 1990, while construction of new transmission facilities dropped by about 30 percent.

The solution proposed by for-profit developers like NYRI's is to build more power lines. But building power lines is the hard part, as energy entrepreneurs across the country have learned.

Relatively speaking, building power plants is much easier, said Ed Legge, a spokesman for the Edison Electrical Institute, a consortium of power companies. Plants tend to be in unpopulated areas, he said, and require government approval for just one site. Power lines, on the other hand, move across vast areas, with countless neighbors. With more neighboring property owners involved, the potential for opposition escalates.

"Somebody's land or somebody's vista is always going to be a part of it," Legge said.

In Northern California, a 600-mile high-voltage line from Lassen to Stanislaus counties died in 2009 after widespread public opposition and a two-year struggle. A 90-mile line between West Virginia and Virginia came online in 2006 after a 13-year approval battle and three years of construction. And a 220-mile line from Duluth, Minnesota to Wausau, Wisconsin took eight years to gain approval and two years to build.