A 21-page report, it is widely believed throughout the electric power industry that more transmission is needed in the United States to maintain grid reliability and to meet growing demand. The level of investment in transmission infrastructure in the United States declined through the 1990s to less than $3 billion per year (adjusted for inflation) in 1999, down from an average of $5.5 billion per year in the mid-1970s. Since that time, investment in transmission has once again started to rise, reaching an estimated $9.5 billion in 2008, and is projected to rise to $10.3 billion in 2009 and about $11 billion in 2010. Despite this increase in transmission investment, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) cautions that even more transmission is needed. NERC’s latest reliability assessment projects that transmission miles will increase approximately 9.5%, but generation will increase by about 21% over the next decade and hence, some regions may start falling below a reliable transmission capacity margin as early as 2010.