Press ReleaseNeutral2026-05-15

Rep. Pfluger Emphasizes Need for Local Input on Transmission Siting Decisions

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This press release from Representative August Pfluger (R-TX) was published on 2026-05-15 and titled "Rep. Pfluger Emphasizes Need for Local Input on Transmission Siting Decisions".

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Rep. Pfluger Emphasizes Need for Local Input on Transmission Siting Decisions

WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, reinforced his position on ensuring landowners and local communities maintain a meaningful voice in transmission siting decisions. During the Energy Subcommittee hearing focused on America's growing power needs and grid reliability, Rep. Pfluger recognized the importance of strengthening domestic energy production and power capacity to meet rising demand and compete with adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party. He also urged utilities to respect private property rights and work closely with states and local communities when determining where transmission lines are built. Throughout the hearing, Rep. Pfluger highlighted the concerns raised by his constituents regarding transmission lines. While this is a state issue, not a federal one, he also questioned witnesses about the best practices for ensuring landowners have a meaningful voice in the process. Witnesses included Tony Clark , Executive Director, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC); Mark Christie , former Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Director, Center on Energy and Law, William Mary Law School; Randy S. Howard , General Manager, Northern California Power Agency; and Clay Rikard , Senior Vice President, System Planning, Southern Company. Watch Rep. Pfluger's questioning HERE or by clicking on the image below. Read highlights from their discussion below: Rep. Pfluger: The discussion is so important to our future, our security, and the ability for us to continue to produce what we need, with demand growing. It's not just a timely discussion; it's something that, quite frankly, we're behind on. So thank you for that, and I strongly support every aspect of generating more power, of getting that to consumers, of competing with China, and I think we should be clear-eyed on this competition with the Chinese Communist Party that would really like to take data centers, in particular, back to the mainland of China, instead of allowing them to be here. So, yes, I think we can do all of it. And I've got a couple of questions that I'll jump into. There are a variety of ways to do this, but when lines are built, and they go through private land, I think the onus is on all of us to really tell that story about what we're doing. There are a lot of concerns back in my home district. I'm supportive of having lines transmit electricity, more electricity, but we've heard a lot of concern. And this is mostly a state-level issue in the state of Texas, so less federal interaction, but I think the Nexus here is, and I'll start with Mr. Clark, but what are the best practices for ensuring that landowners and the local communities can have a meaningful voice in transmission, siting decisions? Tony Clark: Congressman, thank you for the question. The first thing I would say is that if I'm making recommendations to project developers, the best recommendation I would have is to make sure you have really good land agents, because that's where it starts. I've seen a number of occasions where a project will really get off track, and it's not always electric transmission lines. It can be pipelines too. But if you have land agents who aren't working well in the community and with landowners, that can be a problem. A second recommendation I would have is anything that you can do from a congressional standpoint to open up opportunities to use things like rights of way, to streamline the federal permitting process, so that project developers don't avoid multi-use federal land. I've seen many projects where it would be better to place it on the multi-use federal land and keep it off of private landowners' land, but the project developer won't choose that route. Even though it's most cost-effective, it would be better put on multi-use land, and we're not talking about wilderness areas or things like that, but they don't go that way because they don't want to trigger federal Nexus, which then triggers all sorts of federal permitting. So I think those two things will help with landowner relations and get projects done more quickly and efficiently. Rep. Pfluger: Thank you, and I'll come back to that in just a second. Your point is well taken there. I want to go to Chairman Christie. Do you believe states are better positioned than the federal government to weigh landowner concerns and to deal with them? Mark Christie: Absolutely, Congressman, I'll give you an example. So we had a very controversial project when I was on the Virginia Commission. It was called the trail line. It ran from Pennsylvania through West Virginia into Virginia. It was the largest regional line in PJM, and we had hundreds of people who came out to high school gyms, complaining and opposing the line. No one came out in favor of it. Hundreds came out against it, but they had their chance to speak, they had the hearings, and ultimately, we decided that the facts

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Rep. Pfluger Emphasizes Need for Local Input on Transmission Siting Decisions WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, reinforced his position on ensuring landowners and local communities maintain a meaningful voice in transmission siting decisions. During the Energy Subcommittee hearing focused on America's growing power needs and grid reliability, Rep. Pfluger recognized the importance of strengthening domestic energy production and power capacity to meet rising demand and compete with adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party. He also urged utilities to respect private property rights and work closely with states and local communities when determining where transmission lines are built. Throughout the hearing, Rep. Pfluger highlighted the concerns raised by his constituents regarding transmission lines. While this is a state issue, not a federal one, he also questioned witnesses about the best practices for ensuring landowners have a meaningful voice in the process. Witnesses included Tony Clark , Executive Director, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC); Mark Christie , former Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Director, Center on Energy and Law, William Mary Law School; Randy S. Howard , General Manager, Northern California Power Agency; and Clay Rikard , Senior Vice President, System Planning, Southern Company. Watch Rep. Pfluger's questioning HERE or by clicking on the image below. Read highlights from their discussion below: Rep. Pfluger: The discussion is so important to our future, our security, and the ability for us to continue to produce what we need, with demand growing. It's not just a timely discussion; it's something that, quite frankly, we're behind on. So thank you for that, and I strongly support every aspect of generating more power, of getting that to consumers, of competing with China, and I think we should be clear-eyed on this competition with the Chinese Communist Party that would really like to take data centers, in particular, back to the mainland of China, instead of allowing them to be here. So, yes, I think we can do all of it. And I've got a couple of questions that I'll jump into. There are a variety of ways to do this, but when lines are built, and they go through private land, I think the onus is on all of us to really tell that story about what we're doing. There are a lot of concerns back in my home district. I'm supportive of having lines transmit electricity, more electricity, but we've heard a lot of concern. And this is mostly a state-level issue in the state of Texas, so less federal interaction, but I think the Nexus here is, and I'll start with Mr. Clark, but what are the best practices for ensuring that landowners and the local communities can have a meaningful voice in transmission, siting decisions? Tony Clark: Congressman, thank you for the question. The first thing I would say is that if I'm making recommendations to project developers, the best recommendation I would have is to make sure you have really good land agents, because that's where it starts. I've seen a number of occasions where a project will really get off track, and it's not always electric transmission lines. It can be pipelines too. But if you have land agents who aren't working well in the community and with landowners, that can be a problem. A second recommendation I would have is anything that you can do from a congressional standpoint to open up opportunities to use things like rights of way, to streamline the federal permitting process, so that project developers don't avoid multi-use federal land. I've seen many projects where it would be better to place it on the multi-use federal land and keep it off of private landowners' land, but the project developer won't choose that route. Even though it's most cost-effective, it would be better put on multi-use land, and we're not talking about wilderness areas or things like that, but they don't go that way because they don't want to trigger federal Nexus, which then triggers all sorts of federal permitting. So I think those two things will help with landowner relations and get projects done more quickly and efficiently. Rep. Pfluger: Thank you, and I'll come back to that in just a second. Your point is well taken there. I want to go to Chairman Christie. Do you believe states are better positioned than the federal government to weigh landowner concerns and to deal with them? Mark Christie: Absolutely, Congressman, I'll give you an example. So we had a very controversial project when I was on the Virginia Commission. It was called the trail line. It ran from Pennsylvania through West Virginia into Virginia. It was the largest regional line in PJM, and we had hundreds of people who came out to high school gyms, complaining and opposing the line. No one came out in favor of it. Hundreds came out against it, but they had their chance to speak, they had the hearings, and ultimately, we decided that the facts