Last Thursday, American Stewards of Liberty Executive Director Margaret Byfield joined an impressive lineup of speakers at the Parker County Conservatives meeting in Weatherford, Texas, alongside Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility Executive Director Destin Sensky. Attendees also heard from Texas State Representatives Andy Hopper and Mike Olcott.
Margaret delivered a powerful presentation exposing the growing threat AI-driven data centers and massive transmission infrastructure projects pose to private property rights across Texas and the nation.
She explained that Texas is currently planning to condemn thousands of acres of private property to construct roughly 4,000 linear miles of new transmission lines. State officials claim the project is necessary to move electricity across Texas to meet the energy demands of the Permian Basin.
But as Margaret pointed out, the Permian Basin already sits atop one of the richest natural gas reserves in the world.
“This plan is like hauling water to the sea,” she explained.
Rather than destroying family ranches, farms, and businesses with massive transmission corridors, Texas should prioritize local, reliable power generation closer to where the energy is needed.
Margaret also warned that much of the sudden push for this infrastructure appears tied to the explosive growth of AI data centers, which require enormous amounts of electricity to operate.
The proposed 765kV lines would bring enormous consequences for landowners. Margaret explained that utility companies only compensate landowners for the narrow strips of land directly seized through eminent domain, while ignoring the billions of dollars in lost property value caused by towering transmission structures cutting across private land.
She also raised concerns about the unknown health impacts of 765kV lines and noted that some studies have linked close proximity to high-voltage transmission infrastructure with negative effects for individuals with heart conditions. In addition, utility companies routinely remove all vegetation beneath the lines using herbicides and pesticides, even on condemned private property.
Most importantly, Margaret shared practical solutions citizens can use to fight back.
She encouraged local officials and landowners to utilize Texas Local Government Code Chapter 391, which allows local governments within the same Council of Governments region to form sub-regional planning commissions. These “391 Commissions” create a formal coordination process requiring state agencies to work with local governments “to the greatest extent feasible” on projects affecting the health, safety, and welfare of their communities.
American Stewards of Liberty is actively helping local governments establish these commissions and equipping citizens with the tools, resources, and strategies needed to resist destructive land grabs and defend private property rights.
