The National Electric Manufacturers Association has released an exciting new board game, just in time for the holidays.

Siting Transmission Corridors (PDF) takes the fun of Chutes and Ladders and combines it with the soul-sucking bureaucratic nightmare of getting multi-level approval for new power lines.

Or, if we want to be pedantic about it, it’s a flow chart that explains the decision-making process that guides transmission line placement.

Carolyn Elefant, an attorney who specializes in transmission issues, declares the chart “highly accurate given its brevity,” but notes that it doesn’t incorporate FERC Order 1000, which, in a nutshell, allows costs of new transmission lines that aid compliance with state renewable energy standards to be distributed more broadly.

At any rate, it’s a great visual that helps bring a highly complex process down to earth in a way that even I can understand. Plus, it makes a great stocking stuffer!

Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy and is a founding editor of both Midwest Energy News and Southeast Energy News. Prior to joining Fresh Energy, he was the managing editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio. He started his journalism career in 2002 as a copy editor for the Duluth News Tribune before spending five years at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a copy editor, online producer, features editor and night city editor. A Nebraska native, Ken has a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.

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