The Permian Basin Reliability Plan was proposed as a high-voltage transmission line, but the Public Utility Commission of Texas ( PUC) approved the project last week, drawing the attention of a coalition that now includes the state’s chief legal officer.
The Permian Basin Reliability Plan network’s drafted Permian Basin Reliability Plan was unanimously approved by the PUC, the state agency responsible for economic rules of the state’s electrical and water utilities, on Friday, August 28. The state agency that oversees the state’s electrical and water utilities, voted unanimously to amend Dallas-based energy company Oncor’s certificates of convenience and necessity, a permit that authorizes a company to provide a public service, The first of the five to receive approval are Oncor’s lines.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate this year, demanded on the state authorities to halt any further action on the plan the same day.
According to Paxton,” The Legislature must be given the opportunity to review the Plan and its potential effects so that it can pass any additional legislation that it deems appropriate.”
A single transmission would connect a facility in the Glen Rose region to far West Texas, using Oncor’s <a href="https://www.oncor.com/content/oncorwww/us/en/home/about-us/transmission-systems/current-transmission-line-projects/dinosaur-to-longshore-765-kv-transmission-line-project.html”>two projects.
House Bill ( HB) 5066, which directed the PUC to develop plans to improve electrical grid reliability in underserved areas, was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2023.
In September 2024, the Permian Basin Reliability Plan was approved by the PUC, which determined that the Permian Basin region’s electricity demand could rise to a peak of 26, 000 megawatts, roughly equivalent to nearly a third of Texas’s peak summer demand. The demand is primarily a result of West Texas’s industrial activity, which includes oil extraction and data center development.
The project will ship power largely generated by wind and solar plants in East and Central Texas to the gas-rich Permian Basin area in West Texas, which the agency later approved the use of 765-kV lines for.
Although the 90th Legislative Session won’t take place until January, project opponents have packed committee hearings over the course of the interim and testified against it for a variety of reasons. Six hours of testimony on the subject were given to the Texas House State Affairs Committee earlier this month.
Republican Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian and conservative groups like the Texas Public Policy Foundation have asserted that the region’s abundant natural gas could provide local electricity without the need for power lines that span the state. Some regional officials claim that the plan reduces city and county authority. The lines would have an impact on wildlife and agriculture, according to landowners.
On the other side of the debate, several energy industry organizations, including the Texas Oil & Gas Association, back the plan, arguing that the state needs more transmission infrastructure to accommodate growth.
Paxton filed an amicus curiae brief with the State Office of Administrative Hearings ( SOAH) “in support of abating any decision in the furtherance of the Permian Basin Reliability Plan.”
The Commission has developed a plan that appears to go beyond H. B.’s original plan. The brief concludes with “5066 such that the Commission no longer aligns itself with the expectations of the Legislature.”
The Legislature should examine the Plan as part of a comprehensive analysis of the state’s reliability efforts because it is already working to address the increase in electric demand brought on by the proliferation of data centers all over the state.
Although the State Office of Administrative Hearings has a judicial structure, it is a state agency that is run by the governor as the governor of Texas. The PUC has the discretion to accept or reject its recommendations, and its authority in this case is advisory.
Paxton filed the brief in support of the nonprofit land rights organization American Stewards of Liberty ( ALS), which argued that the PUC should consider the five separate transmission line applications “piecemeal” and instead take them all together.
This fight is still far from over, according to a press release from ASL on Monday.
ASL will request rehearing and get ready for the upcoming stage of this legal fight, with final orders now being issued in two cases. Despite extraordinary opposition from hundreds of landowners, bipartisan lawmakers, statewide officials, the Attorney General of Texas, and a diverse coalition of energy producers, ranchers, and property owners, the PUC persevered.
