Legislator asks USDA to intervene in transmission project

(The Center Square) – A Texas state representative is among the latest to call for federal intervention to halt a controversial transmission project advanced by state agencies again accused of corruption.Despite overwhelming opposition by Texas landowners, ranchers, farmers and voters, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) unanimously approved the first 765-kilovolt transmission lines of a controversial Permian Basin Reliability Plan. They approved two of five plans – Oncor’s Dinosaur Switch to Longshore Switch and Longshore Switch to Drill Hole Switch, spanning 400 miles across ranch and farmland in west and central Texas.
The Permian Basin Reliability Plan includes building more than 1,200 miles of transmission lines to reportedly transport electricity from east Texas to the Permian Basin, the energy-producing capital of America. Critics argue the plan is nonsensical – akin to “hauling water to the ocean” – and comes at a tremendous cost.
Landowners have received mailers stating eminent domain will be used to take their land, and taxpayers and ratepayers will be on the hook to foot a large part of the $11 billion project, The Center Square reported.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation argues the plan will cost $100 billion to build power lines the state doesn’t need. American Stewards of Liberty, one of the groups opposing it, argues 4,000 linear miles will cause $10 billion in personal property damage.
State Rep. Brad Buckley, a Republican in central Texas, called on Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to intervene after a massive 300-megawatt solar project was defeated in upstate New York. The USDA was not involved in halting the project, but Rollins weighed in, saying it “threatened productive farmland in Montgomery County, New York.” She also criticized the project’s approval after “fierce opposition from farmers and a historic Amish farming community. … America should never be forced to sacrifice its most productive farmland to satisfy a radical energy agenda.”
Buckley said the situation in Texas is no different.
The transmission project is “the Green New Deal‘s best friend” and “will further our dependence on unreliable wind and solar generation,” he said. He added it will “trample private property rights to advance a radical climate agenda right here in your home state. Join us in opposing this project and call for a pause until the people’s representatives take this up in the 90th legislature.”
The governor and Legislature created the problem by enacting House Bill 5066 in 2023, which created the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, critics argue.
Buckley and others have criticized the implementation of the plan by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the Texas grid, and the PUCT, calling for it to be halted, The Center Square reported.
Landowners also filed a forensic audit request with the PUCT, arguing the plan is based on questionable ERCOT 2024 computer models that raise “serious questions regarding federal compliance.”
One model, using “possibly inaccurate assumptions,” was used “to justify the three enormous 765-kV import paths, each stretching 400 miles across Texas,” the landowners’ petition states. “Simultaneously, ERCOT had a second 2024 computer model that used dramatically different growth assumptions about where future statewide electric demand and generation would be located.”
The Legislature oversees both agencies, which have a history of failure. The former PUCT chair resigned, ERCOT’s CEO was fired, and seven of ERCOT’s 15 board members resigned after systemic agency failures led to the Texas grid nearly collapsing during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021. Texans were left without electricity for days during subfreezing temperatures causing 246 deaths and billions in losses, The Center Square reported.
Regulatory malfeasance continues, Buckley argued, accusing ERCOT and the PUCT of corruption.
“ERCOT cooked the books” to steamroll the transmission project and PUCT Chairman Pablo Vegas, “the $6M man, rubber stamps the deal and hard-working Texans pay the bill,” he said.
He’s referring to ERCOT board members and the PUCT giving themselves millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded raises after Texans have seen their electric bills increase by 40%. The Legislature passed on costs to consumers after the 2021 energy crisis, The Center Square reported. This was after the former PUCT chairman wanted to pass on $16 billion in costs to consumers after the 2021 energy crisis prior to being forced to resign.
The deal included a $6.4 million compensation package for Vegas and $150,000 bonuses for ERCOT board members. According to tax records, Vegas’ compensation in 2024 was $3.6 million and $4 million in 2026, the Texas Tribune reported. By comparison, the governor’s salary is $153,750.
The taxpayer funded windfall was halted after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick got involved.
“I’ve lost total confidence and trust in ERCOT Board Chair Flores to look out for Texas ratepayers and to be the chair of the ERCOT board,” Patrick said.
ERCOT and the PUCT have not responded to The Center Square’s requests for comment about Buckley’s criticism. Vargas has said misunderstandings exist about his multi-year contract, according to multiple news reports. Gov. Greg Abbott hasn’t weighed in on the compensation issue or replacing ERCOT and PUCT leaders. The Legislature has yet to reign in taxpayer-funded compensation for agency bureaucrats or reduce energy costs.
Abbott has proposed one way to reduce energy costs for some Texans by targeting utility monopolies, The Center Square reported. The plan doesn’t involve strengthening oversight of ERCOT and the PUTC, limiting their compensation packages, restricting the use of eminent domain or halting the transmission project.

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