(The Center Square) – After voting for a bill to build transmission lines across Texas using eminent domain to take Texans’ land, state lawmakers felt the rage of property owners during a 15-hour hearing on Wednesday. By Friday, senators were calling for a halt to the process.
After months of Texans expressing statewide opposition to a transmission line plan, the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee held a hearing to hear from the energy industry, state regulators and roughly seven hours of two-minute testimony from Texans across the state.
At issue is a proposal to build multiple 765kV ultra-high voltage transmission lines stretching from deep east Texas to far west Texas as part of the Permian Basin Reliability Plan. Republicans who advocated for the plan are now saying it should be halted until the agencies advancing it are reformed.
At the center of the controversy are the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Public Utility Commission (PUC). Both failed to prevent extensive power failures during Winter Storm Uri and after Hurricane Beryl as electricity costs have soared over the past few years. Failures were compounded by previous ERCOT members not living in Texas and a lack of oversight by former PUC leaders, The Center Square reported. The failures led to a series of legislative reforms and ERCOT and PUC leaders being replaced.
State lawmakers are again highlighting failures with the agencies advancing the transmission plan. On Friday, state Sen. Charles Schwertner, who chairs the committee, said, “After hearing hours of testimony from Texas landowners … one thing is clear: landowners deserve a fair and transparent CCN process. Texans' property rights must be protected.”
“Testimony from property owners and their representatives highlighted significant concerns regarding the certificate of convenience and necessity process (CCN), including the lack of proper notice from utilities, shortened timelines for PUC proceedings, and due process at the state office of administrative hearings,” he said. “These concerns demonstrate the need for complete overhaul of the CCN process before these applications can advance.”
He also said the PUC must deny all existing CCN applications.
State Sen. Kevin Sparks, R-Midland, who supported the transmission line plan, agreed, also thanking “the many landowners who came all the way to Austin to share their concerns on this rushed and deeply flawed process in Wednesday's hearing.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also weighed in, saying that despite spending years studying Texas energy needs, “neither the PUC nor ERCOT have followed through with a plan that is supported by the vast majority of Texas landowners.” He also said agency representatives acknowledged this during the hearing.
“Hour after hour, witness after witness testified they did not have adequate notice and have no idea where the lines are going because of constant route changes. They also accused ERCOT, the PUC, and the transmission companies of rushing through the process that could significantly affect the use of their land,” Patrick said. “It’s clear the overwhelming number of witnesses in rural Texas are not supportive of the current process. They want it paused. Some want it stopped entirely.”
Patrick also claimed that “everyone agrees” that “Texas needs the transmission necessary to meet the growing needs of the state.”
Not everyone agrees.
American Stewards of Liberty says the project will “take 4,000 linear miles of private land to build three new 765kV power lines. This defies logic … akin to hauling water to the sea.”
It estimates Texas landowners would lose a minimum $8.2 billion in condemned and devalued land if the projects aren’t stopped by the state legislature and governor.
Texas Public Policy Foundation Brent Bennett testified that instead of building transmission lines, “building more energy-dense, reliable generation like natural gas and nuclear close to demand centers would eliminate the need for the cross-state 765-kV lines while decreasing total system costs for consumers,” was a better alternative.
He also said that the “major driving force for new cross-state transmission in Texas is the need to move diffuse wind and solar hundreds of miles across the state to load centers. The overbuilding of wind and solar is especially prevalent in West Texas, which is suppressing the building of reliable generation despite consistent load growth in that region.”
Both wind and solar have proven not to provide reliable sources of energy but were built quickly due to federal subsidies that will soon end under the Trump administration, The Center Square reported.
“The current structure of ERCOT is doing exactly the opposite of what is needed by unduly rewarding diffuse and variable wind and solar while subsidizing the transmission of their power to demand centers. The 765-kV STEP, rather than solving this problem, merely provides a temporary band aid while further entrenching this broken system over the long term. More reliable generation will help keep the lights on during the next winter storm, a problem that new transmission by itself does not solve,” Bennett said.
Patrick conceded that supporting ERCOT’s 765-kV transmission plan “should not come at the expense of private property rights,” supported PUC denying all pending CCN applications and said the legislature will prioritize reforming the PUC process next year.
