Oil & gas producers and landowners call for abatement of PUC transmission proceedings
AUSTIN — The Texas Public Policy Foundation Wednesday filed a letter with the Public Utility Commission of Texas urging the Commission to grant American Stewards of Liberty’s motion to abate the ongoing Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (CCN) proceedings for the proposed 765-kV transmission lines. The letter was cosigned by dozens of Texas energy producers and landowners.
The letter argues that the existing CCN process is inadequate for a project of this scale and impact, and that the proposal for the lines was never debated by the Texas Legislature, which should be done for a project of this size and scope. The letter further contends that the fundamental driver of the need for new transmission is a flawed ERCOT wholesale market that fails to incentivize dispatchable natural gas generation. Building nearly $100 billion in new transmission without first correcting those market flaws risks compounding the problem rather than solving it. Abatement is the appropriate course while the 90th Texas Legislature considers necessary reforms and alternatives to the current plan.
“The Permian Basin sits on some of the world’s cheapest and most abundant natural gas,” the letter states. “There is no physical reason there is not sufficient natural gas generation in the region to serve demand. This is purely a policy problem.”
Policymakers must seize the opportunity to fix the ERCOT market now before tens of billions of dollars are spent and irreversible harm is done.
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