The State of Texas has initiated a $33 billion statewide plan to construct multiple 765kV transmission lines that will traverse the entire state. Sold as the solution to solve Texas’ power generation needs following the devastating effects of Winter Storm Uri in 2021, these lines will in reality make Texas more vulnerable.
The 765kV transmission towers will be approximately 14 to 16 stories tall (300 feet), span 2,468 linear miles, and condemn nearly 60,000 acres of private land.
The land grab of landowner’s private property is why American Stewards has joined the fight against these 765kV transmission lines.
Winter Storm Uri blasted through Texas on February 13, 2021, leaving close to 4.5 million homes without electricity for several days. The power outage created an economic toll estimated to be around $295 billion. The death toll was well over 100.
That one storm gave the Texas legislators the excuse to come up with a plan to solve the state’s power grid and deliver reliable power. However, since Uri, Texas has invested over $50 billion in new electric generation but has only increased reliable capacity by less than five percent.
Instead of building reliable power using Texas’ abundant resources of oil and natural gas, the state has doubled down on unreliable wind and solar which during the peak winter months doesn’t provide any reliable power after sunset and just before sunrise. At the same time, winter electricity demand has increased 20%.
And, between 2020 and 2024, Texas residential electricity bills rose 28% and the construction of transmission towers added $30 every month to all ratepayer’s monthly bills. These 765kV transmission lines are estimated to increase that cost to $40 a month.
The real reason for the state continuing to go down the path of unreliable energy, is the federal subsidies created by the Biden administration for wind and solar. Texas claims they will be exporting power from East Texas to the Permian Basin.
This makes no sense. The Permian Basin is home to one of the world’s greatest oil and gas fields. The problem these transmission lines solve is creating a connection to the power grid for the overbuilt and unreliable wind and solar, that only marginally help power supply in the summer months.
American Stewards has joined forces with several organizations and experts to fight the 765kV transmission project. Email us at asl@americanstewards.us, if you would like to join this fight.
National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors
The Texas 765kV transmission line battle is similar to the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) project.
American Stewards is assisting landowners in eastern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado on the Southwestern Grid Connector Corridor.
On December 16, 2024, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it is moving forward with three potential National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETCs) and issued a notice in the Federal Register. Maps of these corridors show that they can be anywhere from 15-50 miles wide giving the DOE extreme latitude where they can locate their transmission lines, leaving landowners in limbo as to whether their property will be impacted.
This deception has caused real damages to landowners with their inability to obtain financing from banks that have no clue where these transmission lines will be located.
Go here to listen to Molly Vogt’s American Energy Works podcast where she interviews Margaret Byfield, Executive Director of American Stewards of Liberty on the NIETC issue.
Vogt states that “In my Substack, I’m intentionally pairing our national discussion on NIETC corridors with what’s happening here in Texas around the proposed 765-kV transmission lines, so readers can clearly see how federal policy connects directly to local property and the cost impacts to all of us.”
