Texas utility regulators have approved the first two high-voltage transmission lines proposed under the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, moving the massive infrastructure project forward even as opposition grows among landowners, conservative groups and some of the state’s top elected officials.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas voted unanimously Friday, Aug. 28, to amend Dallas-based Oncor’s certificates of convenience and necessity for two of the five 765-kilovolt transmission lines envisioned as part of the Permian Basin network.
A certificate of convenience and necessity is the state authorization allowing a utility to construct facilities and provide service in a designated area.
The two Oncor projects are the first of the five proposed 765-kV lines to receive PUC approval. Together, they would create a chain of transmission infrastructure stretching from the Glen Rose area to far West Texas.
But the approval came on the same day Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called for state authorities to halt further action on the broader plan and give lawmakers an opportunity to reconsider it.
“The Legislature must be afforded the time to review the Plan and its potential impacts so it can then enact additional legislation to provide whatever additional guidance it deems fit,” Paxton wrote.
Paxton, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate this year, also filed an amicus curiae brief with the State Office of Administrative Hearings in support of delaying decisions that would further implement the Permian Basin Reliability Plan.
The fight traces back to House Bill 5066, passed by the Texas Legislature in 2023. The legislation directed the PUC to develop plans to improve electric grid reliability in underserved areas of Texas.
The commission adopted the Permian Basin Reliability Plan in September 2024 after determining that electricity demand in the Permian Basin could reach a peak of 26,000 megawatts by 2038. That would be roughly equivalent to nearly one-third of the peak summer demand across the entire Texas grid.
Much of that projected growth is tied to industrial activity in West Texas, including oil production and the development of power-hungry data centers.
The PUC later approved the use of 765-kV transmission lines for the project. The lines would carry electricity across long distances, including power generated by wind and solar facilities in East and Central Texas, to the Permian Basin.
The plan has become increasingly controversial as it moves from planning to construction approvals.
Although the 90th Texas Legislature will not convene until January, opponents have used interim legislative hearings to press lawmakers to reconsider the project. The Texas House State Affairs Committee heard about six hours of testimony on the issue earlier this month.
Opposition has brought together groups with different concerns.
Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian and conservative organizations including the Texas Public Policy Foundation have argued that the Permian Basin’s abundant natural gas resources could be used to generate more electricity locally instead of relying on transmission lines stretching across large portions of the state.
Some city and county officials have raised concerns about the effect of the plan on local authority, while landowners have warned about potential impacts on ranching, agriculture and wildlife.
Supporters, meanwhile, contend Texas needs significantly more transmission capacity to keep pace with economic and population growth. Several energy industry organizations, including the Texas Oil & Gas Association, have backed the reliability plan.
Paxton’s intervention adds another prominent statewide official to the opposition.
In his filing with the State Office of Administrative Hearings, Paxton argued that the PUC may have gone beyond what lawmakers intended when they passed HB 5066.
“The Commission has created a Plan that appears to exceed the original intent of H.B. 5066 such that the Commission is no longer aligned with the expectations of the Legislature,” the brief reads.
Paxton also pointed to the rapid growth of data centers and the resulting increase in electricity demand as a reason lawmakers should be allowed to revisit the issue.
“As the Legislature is already endeavoring to tackle the growth in electric demand spurred by data centers popping up across the state, now is the ideal time for the Legislature to review the Plan as part of a holistic review of the state’s reliability efforts.”
The State Office of Administrative Hearings functions much like a court in contested administrative cases, but it remains an executive-branch state agency. Its recommendations in the transmission proceedings are advisory, meaning the PUC ultimately can accept or reject them.
Paxton filed his brief in support of American Stewards of Liberty, a nonprofit land-rights organization that has argued regulators should not make “piecemeal” decisions on the five transmission applications. Instead, the group wants the projects considered together as components of the larger Permian Basin plan.
Following Friday’s approval of the Oncor projects, American Stewards of Liberty indicated it intends to continue challenging the project.
“This fight is far from over,” the organization said in a Monday press release.
“With final orders now issued in two cases, ASL will seek rehearing and prepare for the next stage of this fight in court. The PUC moved forward despite extraordinary opposition from hundreds of landowners, bipartisan lawmakers, statewide officials, the Attorney General of Texas, and a broad coalition of energy producers, ranchers, and property owners.”
The approval of Oncor’s two projects therefore represents a major step toward construction of the Permian Basin transmission network, but not the end of the political or legal battle surrounding it.
