Gov. Schwarzenegger and the governors of Nevada, Utah and Wyoming on Monday announced an agreement to build a new multi-billion dollar electric transmission line to relieve bottlenecks in the current Western U.S. power grid.

The new transmission line, called the “Frontier Line,” would cross Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. It would take about five years to build at a total cost of between $3.5 billion and $5 billion.

“In my State of the State address, I said we should expand our aging transmission grid to ensure that California has reliable and affordable electricity,” Schwarzenegger said Monday.

The transmission line agreement calls for a task force to look at potential routes for the power line, as well as the complex regulatory, financial and environmental issues associated with the project. Any new power line would have to go through a series of environmental and funding hurdles, which could take several years.

The agreement stems from the 2000-01 California power crisis, when it became evident that a key north-south transmission line in California could not handle the increasing demand for power. This “Path 15” transmission line was a factor in the 2001 power blackouts that hit portions of the state.

Another set of power lines connecting California with other Western states and Canada known as the Pacific Intertie has also frequently been overloaded, causing occasional blackouts in California and elsewhere.