HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Pennsylvania-based power company on Tuesday proposed building a 330-mile transmission line from West Virginia's Northern Panhandle, through southwest Pennsylvania and ending in central Maryland.

The "Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line" is the second multistate power line being proposed to carry surplus electricity from coal- fired power plants in Appalachia and the Midwest to more populated markets in the East where electricity is more expensive.

The company, Allegheny Power, said it submitted plans for the $1.4 billion project to the operator of the region's electric grid, PJM Interconnection. PJM is expected to release a report later this year on transmission expansion in the eastern United States that could bolster Allegheny Power's plans, or force the company to change them.

"What they will determine is what needs to be connected electrically that does the most customers the most good," Allegheny Power spokesman Allen Staggers said.

Like the line proposed by American Electric Power Co., Allegheny Power's line could benefit from a new law that diminishes the power of state regulators to stop an interstate transmission line.

Allegheny Power said it will seek a designation of the line's proposed route under a seven-month-old law that allows federal regulators to use the power of eminent domain to override states' rejection of a transmission line that has a demonstrated interstate interest.

However, the line would be shorter and carry a lower voltage than American Electric's proposed line.

The route of Allegheny Power's proposed line traverses the territory where it distributes electricity to 1.5 million customers in four states.

The initial proposed route would take the 500-kilovolt power line from Weirton, W.Va., across Pennsylvania's bituminous coal country south of Pittsburgh before re-entering West Virginia. From there, it would cross the mountain recreation areas of West Virginia's Allegheny Highlands before ending near Kemptown, Md., about 30 miles from Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Industry officials say new transmission lines are crucial to meeting growing power demands and expanding electricity markets. One particular need is for more transmission lines between coal country and the power-hungry eastern seaboard, they say.

Allegheny Power said it expects to begin engineering and planning work in 2007 and have the line's first segment in place in 2013.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said he welcomed the project.

"Allegheny Energy is an important partner in West Virginia's economic success, and this project represents a significant investment that will help Allegheny Power meet the growing energy demands of our state and region and create new jobs and economic opportunities," Manchin said.

The company is a subsidiary of Allegheny Energy Inc., which owns and operates 20 power plants, including four major coal plants in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

In January, Ohio-based American Electric, the nation's largest power generator, proposed a $3 billion, 550-mile power line from West Virginia, through Maryland and Pennsylvania to New Jersey.