Electric power lines bigger than any now standing in Texas are one step closer to being built, after the Public Utility Commission of Texas unanimously approved a key permit for one such project on Friday.
The approval of the Certificate of Convenience and Necessity for the North Texas transmission project came despite impassioned opposition from rural landowners along the proposed route.
It will run approximately 400 miles, depending on local routing, from Glen Rose, Texas, about 50 miles northwest of Fort Worth, to Reeves County in West Texas, about 50 miles south of Carlsbad, New Mexico.
The Public Utility Commission's approval means that the transmission utility, Oncor, can begin obtaining land easements, surveying land, and constructing the line.
The project is one of four 765kV (kilovolt) transmission line proposals that make up the state's Permian Basin Reliability Plan.
The plan, for three east-west electricity superhighways, was approved by state lawmakers in the 2023 legislative session to fast-track transmission to the electricity-hungry West Texas oil and gas industry.
At the hearing on Friday, Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, said the plans was necessary to ensure national energy security.
"There are six gigawatts of unmet, unconnected [electric] load demand in West Texas now," he said. "We're not thinking about data centers in the future. These are immediate needs. It's today, not tomorrow."
Since details of the plan went public, rural landowners have decried the prospect of the 765kV towers, which can reach 160 feet, running through local landscapes. At hearing after hearing they have raised concerns about environmental impacts and infringement of property rights.
"The irony is we're beneficiaries of the oil and gas industry," said Emily Martin Howle, whose property is along the path of the northern line. "We know that they're capable of doing the things to take care of their own industry. Why do they have to bring all the rest of us into it?"
Texas politicians and opponents of renewable energy, which the lines would help move across the state, have also forcefully opposed the project.
Earlier this month, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick joined dozens of other state lawmakers in calling for a pause in transmission planning until the Legislature could weigh in next year.
But Friday's decision shows the Public Utility Commission, composed of commissioners appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, is willing to move forward on the plan despite the controversy.
It also raised the likelihood that the other lines that make up the larger Permian Basin Plan also will be approved.
"With legislators coming up and really stepping up for the people ... we thought we were being heard," Jada Jo Smith said.
Smith is president of the Hill Country Preservation Coalition, a group opposed to the southernmost transmission projects that would run from the Hill Country outside San Antonio to West Texas.
"Here this group of four — panel of commissioners — can't even recognize how the community has spoken," she said.
At a state Senate hearing late last month, regulators and grid officials told state lawmakers that improved transmission was needed to ensure electric reliability in Texas after years of under-investment.
Woody Rickerson, chief operating officer of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said rolling blackouts could begin affecting West Texas as early as next year because of an overloaded transmission system.
The 765kV lines are bigger than the 365kV transmission lines that are a common sight in Texas. They reach a height of 160 feet and occupy a right of way 200 feet wide.
Grid managers decided to recommend the larger lines, which are found in other parts of the country, because fewer of them are needed to move large loads of electricity, reducing the total footprint of transmission.
In approving the northern east-west project, PUC Chair Thomas Gleeson directed transmission utility Oncor to work with landowners to find the least disruptive local paths for the project.
But opponents of the lines say their fight will continue.
"They got power to do what they want, but we got power to take them out of office, you know what I mean?" said Lance Trinque, who lives in Erath County. "And they're gonna feel it. They're going to feel it."
Copyright 2026 KUT News
