After public pressure, Texas OKs more 765 lines, directing companies to work with landowners
After public pressure, Texas OKs more 765 lines, directing companies to work with landowners
ODESSA — The Public Utility Commission of Texas on Friday gave its approval to a controversial, 370-mile-long transmission line project, pending two transmission companies work with landowners to make modifications.
The Howard Solstice transmission line, as it is known, will transport electricity through South Texas to the oil and gas industry in the Permian Basin. The changes the commission seeks should reduce construction through grassland, the commission said.
The line will stretch across 14 counties, including Uvalde, Kerr, Bexar and Medina counties. The five-panel commissioners directed the two transmission companies to work with landowners to make further route modifications after residents expressed concerns that the lines would significantly damage their properties.
Friday's vote is the second in as many weeks the commission has taken as part of its effort to supercharge West Texas oil production, work required under state law. Last week, the five commissioners presiding over the Utility Commission approved two first-of-their-kind transmission lines in North Texas after hours of impassioned testimony from landowners and the oil and gas industry.
"We've talked a lot about process, and to me, this is really an example, quite frankly, of the process working," Commissioner Kathleen Jackson said before the panel voted.
Two other proposals on Friday were sent back to the agency's administrative courts to resolve issues commissioners raised.
“At this time, I believe it is premature to address whether the recommendations in the (proposal) should be acted on,” Public Utility Commission Chair Gleeson wrote Wednesday in a letter to the other four commissioners, adding that the State Office of Administrative Hearings, which recommends the proposals commissioners vote on, issued an incomplete proposal for a decision. Gleeson wrote that the court did not explain whether the proposals met federal reliability standards.
“The lack of a recommendation on this issue is puzzling,” he wrote.
The administrative court’s ruling is also missing how much consumers would save, should the commission approve the transmission lines.
Altogether, the five transmission line proposals, designed by power grid managers at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, are the state’s largest and most ambitious electricity infrastructure project.
“Chairman Gleeson’s memo underscores exactly why American Stewards of Liberty has urged the Commission to slow this process down," said Margaret Byfield, executive director of American Stewards of Liberty, a national organization that champions land rights that has contested all five proposals. "Fundamental questions remain unanswered about whether these lines are actually required to meet reliability standards and whether they provide the economic benefits being claimed. Those are not minor details. They speak directly to whether a project that would cost billions of dollars and permanently burden private property is necessary in the first place."
The proposals have put the industrial sector at odds with landowners over whether the lines are needed, catching the attention of lawmakers — many of whom voted for the bill that called for a plan to serve the state’s energy needs — and who now say they didn’t expect the transmission line proposals to be the outcome of that mandate.
The lines have alarmed swaths of landowners across Texas who worry the construction could cause irreparable damage to their land. Hundreds have filed letters and challenges to the applications, hoping the Utility Commission will reject them.
Some said they did not get legally required advance notice of the proposals, an argument the transmission companies disputed. Landowners have also said the Utility Commission’s 180-day timeframe to process the applications is too short. Ultimately, commissioners sided with the transmission companies, saying the applicants followed the Utility Commission’s rules.
“I don't feel the landowners have had the adequate time or the proper procedure to be able to deal with something of this magnitude,” said Jada Jo, president of the Hill Country Preservation Coalition, a landowner group opposing the transmission lines.
A representative from one of the transmission companies said Friday they would work with landowners as directed by the commission.
"We understand, and we accept accountability, and we will complete that expectation, and and we agree with it. So we we do care a lot about our landowners and appreciate the addition of that provision," Stephanie Houle, vice president of regulatory affairs at AEP told commissioners after the presiding officers directed the company to minimize the impact of the transmission line.
Trade groups representing the industrial sector and oil and gas industry have insisted the lines are necessary to support the state’s breakneck growth and that electricity needs have lagged for at least a decade. They’ve argued that there isn’t enough transmission infrastructure to support oil and gas production or the industrial manufacturing sector. Power generators that convert natural gas into electricity, meanwhile, argue that the transmission lines will spur the energy market to build more power plants and support the state’s energy grid, which Texas has historically struggled to do.
The fierce debate drew scrutiny in Austin, where the Texas Legislature has launched hours-long hearings on the issue. Over the summer, legislative committees in the House and Senate heard from landowners, several industries and the transmission companies.
After a 15-hour July hearing in the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, state Sen. Charles Schwertner, the committee’s chair, called on the Utility Commission to reject every proposal so the Legislature could reform the application process. On X, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick echoed the calls.
“Everyone agrees Texas needs the transmission to meet the growing needs of the state,” Patrick wrote. “However, support for ERCOT’s 765kV transmission plan should not come at the expense of private property rights.”
State Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, also asked the Utility Commission to reject the plan after presiding over an eight-hour hearing in the House State Affairs Committee.
Disclosure: CPS Energy and Oncor have been major financial supporters of The Texas Tribune. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in our journalism. Find a complete list of them and more information about our financial and disclosure policies here.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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