Two U.S. Representatives from Kansas have filed legislation opposing Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law three years ago that gave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the authority to issue permits for transmission lines within a national corridor.
Most concerning is that the law gives the federal agency the authority to usurp the state’s authority and approve transmission projects within designated National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETCs) even if the state has denied the project application.
U.S. Reps. Tracey Mann and Ron Estes filed H.R. 9527, Protecting Our Land from Federal Overreach Act of 2024. Kansas U.S. Senators Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall have endorsed the House bill, but not yet filed a companion in the Senate.
The bill 1) bans federal funds from being used to condemn private property for electric transmission lines, and 2) prohibits FERC from using its authority to overrule a state regulator that has rejected an electric transmission project.
In August, American Stewards published an article explaining how the Department of Energy (DOE) had released an alarming preliminary list called the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors that are massive in length and width with the potential of encumbering millions of acres of private property.
The list represented the second phase of DOE’s process to designate NIETCs that would unlock federal financing and permitting measures to begin the construction process. This opened a 45-day comment period on the national transmission corridor plan that closed June 24.
The DOE is now beginning phase three where they will initiate the scoping process and environmental analysis required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). During this analysis they may narrow the size of the corridors, adjust boundaries, or potentially even enlarge some of the areas.
Rep. Mann complained that DOE’s 45-day comment period was “grossly underpublicized, overly vague and left landowners with no clarity regarding whether their lands would be impacted.”
Senator Moran said the 45-day comment window was too short and the legislation introduced in Washington would “prohibit the Department of Energy from trampling on the rights of Kansas landowners or usurping the authority of state regulators in order to build a transmission line across Kansas.”
