Kansas Legislators Introduce Bill to Prevent Federal Land Seizures for Transmission Lines

Four congress members in the Kansas congressional delegation have unveiled legislation to ban use of federal funding to condemn private property for a proposed system of National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors. The bill, introduced by U.S. Representative Tracey Mann (KS-01) and U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), would prohibit the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from overruling rejection of electric transmission projects by state regulators.

A DOE map of potential sections of the NIETC included a path stretching from southwest Kansas to the northeast corner of the state. Part of the corridor would include the high-capacity Grain Belt Express transmission line, a project that sparked opposition from farm groups and landowners because it would cut across private property in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois, according to the Kansas Reflector. Construction of the line could begin in 2025.

In May, the U.S. Department of Energy released the preliminary list of potential National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors. The list represented the second phase of DOE’s process to designate NIETCs. NIETC designation would unlock federal financing and permitting tools to spur construction of transmission projects.

The legislation would:

• Ban federal funds from being used to condemn private property to be used in a NIETC designation, and
• Prohibit FERC from using its authority to overrule a state regulator’s rejection of an electric transmission project.

Rep. Mann, Senator Moran, and Senator Marshall secured an agreement from DOE to continue accepting comments regarding the NIETC proposal in Kansas.