Talking Points
Dig Deeper
Secure Texas’ Grid
Stop the Texas 765 Power Lines
New Texas Transmission Lines Are An Expensive Non-Solution
Texas is planning to take 4,000 linear miles of private land to build three new 765kV power lines. They claim it is necessary to move energy from the east side of the state to the Permian Basin to meet the region’s energy needs.
This defies logic. The Permian Basin has one of the most abundant natural gas sources in the world. Their plan is akin to hauling water to the sea.
Rather than destroy thousands of miles of family lands and businesses, the State should be encouraging the development of local, reliable power sources.
Instead of imposing tens of billions of dollars in new transmission costs – already 40% of the Texas consumer’s electric bill – they should be implementing real market reforms.
Landowners will lose a minimum of $30 billion as land is condemned and properties devalued. Transmission companies will pay a fraction of that in compensation to landowners. Yet, they are guaranteed to reap billions of dollars annually from the project.
Policymakers must address the core issues with the Texas power grid instead of taking private land to build giant power lines that will do little to improve power reliability for Texans.
How You Can Help
1. Contact Your Senator and Representative.
Let them know you oppose the 765 kV Transmission Line Project.
2. Ask them to Contact Leadership.
Ask your elected leaders to contact the Governor, Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House. Request they take action to pause the 765 kV Project and issue and interium charge to study alternatives that will acheive grid security.
3. Sign on to ASL’s Intervention Filings.
American Stewards of Liberty is formally interveneing into the Public Utilitiy Commission process to protect the property rights of our members and stop the entire project. Email us if you are directly impacted and would like to join this action.
4. Establish 391 Commissions.
If you are a County Commissioner or City Councilman, you can establish a sub-regional planning commission under Chapter 391 of the Local Government Code and require the state agencies to coordinate the transmission line project with your entity. Email us for more information on how to get started and to learn if there is a commission formed in your area. You can download the 391 Guide here.
Current News
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Texas Transmission Line Land Grab
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8 Reasons to oppose the new power lines
Our Grid Problem Is not a Transmission Shortage, It is a Reliability Shortage.
Texas doesn’t have a power transportation problem, it has, because of wind and solar generation, a power reliability problem, and we can’t transmit power that doesn’t exist.
- Texas has not increased reliable, dispatchable power generation since Winter Storm Uri, even though peak-winter demand has grown roughly 20%.
- The contributions from resources that perform during winter storms—gas, coal, and nuclear—are roughly the same today as they were before Uri.
- Transmission lines move electricity, they do not provide what we need, which is reliable electricity.
- Building more long-distance lines is not useful if the power it transmits is unavailable during cold, windless, and pre-sunrise winter hours when outages occur.
Winter Reliability Is Getting Worse, Not Better.
system.
- ERCOT’s winter reserve margin has collapsed from around 17.5% in 2021 to
about 10% today, and it is heading toward zero in just a few years. Most utilities aim for a 15% winter reserve margin to survive extreme weather. - This shrinking margin means less safety buffer when things go wrong, even
under normal winter conditions. - Claims that outage risk is reduced rely on lowered demand assumptions, not
improvements in the system.
Batteries and Long-Distance Lines Are Being Oversold.
provide only two-hours of survival during the worst winter storms.
- Texas has added massive amounts of solar and battery capacity, but solar
contributes zero during winter peak demand (which happens before sunrise). - All ERCOT battery storage combined equals about 1.5 days of output from a single 1-GW gas plant.
- During winter storms, batteries deplete within hours unless there is surplus generation to recharge them, which doesn’t exist during cold snaps.
Transmission Expansion Shifts Costs While Avoiding
Accountability.
New transmission lines make the state look busy while landowners pay the price.
- Tens of billions of dollars have flowed into solar, wind, and storage companies since Uri while reliable energy generators have been underfunded.
- Massive transmission projects allow policymakers and developers to claim action, avoid difficult market reforms, and push costs onto ratepayers and landowners.
- Landowners are being faced with condemnation creating permanent easements on their lands, devalued property, and loss of control, and for what?
Texas Is Repeating the Same Mistake That Led to the Uri Disaster.
We already ran this experiment and many Texans froze to death.
- After a major winter storm in 2011, Texas poured money into wind generation instead of improving winter resiliency. When Uri hit in 2021, wind underperformed dramatically and even more power plants failed because they were not prepared.
- States to the north of Texas experienced only minor outages despite much colder temperatures because they invested in reliable energy capacity and winter resiliency measures.
- Today, Texas is again investing to meet summer-only demand, spending over $50 billion for solar and short-duration batteries and tens of billions on power transmission lines instead of building reliable and energy-dense power generation.
Property Rights Are Being Sacrificed for a Strategy That Doesn’t Work.
If more transmission lines were the right solution, Texans might debate the trade-offs, but it’s not.
- Forcing transmission lines onto private lands assumes the power being transmitted is reliable, the routes are essential, and the benefits outweigh the permanent burdens. The data shows those assumptions are false.
- Once an easement is granted, the land is changed forever, while the grid remains exposed.
There Is a Better, Right-for-Texas Alternative.
Texas doesn’t need more wires across the landscape, it needs power plants that work when Texans are freezing.
- The answer is to enact power generation reforms that result in valuable, reliable, and dispatch-able power.
- Reforms require reliability standards for wind and solar power generators.
- Power generation should be developed closer to where it is needed, not hundreds of miles away.
- We should fix market incentives instead of bulldozing land.
- With reforms to ensure reliable generation, ERCOT would be able to guarantee a winter power surplus instead of guaranteed deficits, even during major storms.
Questions Citizens Should Ask.
An informed citizenry will make all the difference.
- If transmission lines are the solution, why is winter reliability still deteriorating?
- Why are landowners being asked to sacrifice property before market reforms are implemented?
- How many hours of winter demand can current batteries actually cover?
- Why is reliable generation shrinking while demand grows?
- Who benefits financially from transmission expansion instead of power generation reform?
KEY RESOURCES
Issue One-Pager
The Explosion of Transmission Costs in ERCOT: Causes Forecasts, and Policy Solutions – Key points and overview.
Subscribe to our bi-weekly online analysis about the issues affecting your property rights.
Receive our quarterly journal that provides our insights into current and emerging property rights issues.
Free with membership.
Get our action alerts so your voice will make an impact. (If you are a Member or Subscriber you are already signed up)
Issue Guides
Find the ASL issue guides here to help you with the background, talking points, and all the tools to educate your community. And it's free!
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