There is a private property rights battle brewing in rural parts of southeastern Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma and portions of the Dakotas, Nebraska and five Tribal Nations. The U.S. Department of Energy has plans to establish the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors or NIETCs, in these areas and the corridors span five to 15 miles in width. If approved, in New Mexico about 2 million acres of mostly private property would be transferred to the control of the federal government potentially via eminent domain. In Colorado, farmers, ranchers and rural residents stand to lose control of 325,000 acres in Baca, Prowers and Kiowa counties.

According to a white paper by Landmark Resource Firm, NIETCs were proposed by the federal government to address the congestion to the U.S. power grid as a result of the Biden Administration’s goal to decarbonize the U.S. economy. The NIETCs are meant to connect massive new construction of wind and solar facilities, primarily on Western public lands, to the power grid by crossing wide swaths of private land via the federal power of eminent domain. New Mexico rancher Ed Hughs describes them as extension cords to the East and West Coasts.

Hughs’ ranch is in Clay County, N.M., about 80 miles south of Baca County, Colo., and will be affected by the proposed NIETC. Hughs said removing such a giant swath of land while keeping vague the possible and multiple uses for the land ranging from hydropower to battery storage to heavy industrial lines, isn’t justified.

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The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 amended the Federal Power Act in order to give Department of Energy broad discretion to establish NIETCs so the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can permit interstate electric transmission facilities. On Dec. 15, 2022, FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to amend its existing regulations for permits to site interstate electric transmission facilities. According to Landmark, the Infrastructure Act amendments to FPA “questionably expanded Department of Energy’s authority to establish National Corridors to include geographic areas that are expected to experience such constraints or congestion.” The $2.5 billion Transmission Facilitation Program can be accessed by the designation of NIETCs would allow DOE to enter into public-private partnerships to co-develop transmission projects within NIETCs.

PUBLIC COMMENT

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The DOE is already in the public comment phase, which is the third phase, but many landowners in the area are just learning of the plan. According to reporting by Kent Brooks in the Plainsman Herald, the third phase addresses placement and phase four focuses on human and environmental impacts will follow. However, during a recent webinar on Jan. 15, DOE representatives provided minimal clarity on how public objections would be addressed or incorporated into the project’s planning.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, in some instances, has the authority to issue federal permits for transmission facilities located within NIETCs where state siting authorities have not acted on an application to site a transmission project for over one year, or have denied an application. This, according to the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission and Storage Study published in 2020, may include the transmission developer gaining the ability to obtain rights-of-way by exercising the right of eminent domain.

At the Jan. 9 Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting, the Colorado Energy office presented an overview of climate priorities and the work toward the clean energy goals that prompted the need for NIETCs. James Lester, CEO adviser, spoke to the proposed site in Colorado and said the process doesn’t allow the federal government to “just come in and install a transmission line,” but is a process “meant to remove some of the barriers that a private developer or utility would have to build that.”

The New Mexico House representatives sent a letter to their five Congressional delegates opposing what they call the DOE’s intention to unilaterally acquire state and private land for the purpose of establishing renewable energy transmission lines.” The group requested that the delegation “take every action possible to halt the federal land grab” and requested that House and Senate committees of jurisdiction hold oversight hearings. That letter was sent in July 2024, illustrating how far behind the curve Colorado is in opposing the NIETC. Two New Mexico counties have also created a cooperating agreement to push for a National Environmental Policy Act process that is comprehensive, well-informed and reflective of local priorities.

Barton County, Kansas, was one of the 10 original sites considered for a NIETC. It is not on the current three sites after the county commissioners and others firmly objected to the project. In a 2024 resolution, Barton County Commissioners said the Biden Administration’s goal via executive order to transition the U.S. electric power generation to renewable sources by 2035 was based on an administrative decision to sign the Paris Accord, an international agreement never ratified by the Senate. The commissioners also cite that the decision to decarbonize the U.S. economy was adopted without public process or congressional approval, despite the further congestion that would be imposed upon the power grid and the substantially higher costs to consumers. According to the resolution, international conventions and national political agendas are being used to justify what could become one of the largest takings of private lands for public purposes, not an increased demand for electricity.

Notably, Barton County officials said NEPA requires both DOE and FERC to consult with appropriate federal, regional, state and local agencies during the planning stages of any proposed action that requires an environmental assessment or environmental impact study. DOE has admitted the NIETC proposals do require NEPA processes, though Barton County and Kansas state officials were not contacted. The DOE withdrew the NIETC corridor through Kansas in December of 2024.

Kansas commissioners in Barton and Brown counties also argued that the transmission lines would remove valuable farmland from production, leading to a decline in tax revenue which would be detrimental to local economies.

As a result of the public pushback against the NIETC in Kansas, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall and Rep. Tracey Mann introduced legislation to protect Kansan’s property rights from federal overreach by blocking the DOE from using tax dollars to purchase land along the proposed corridor. The Protecting Our Land from Federal Overreach Act of 2024 also seeks to prohibit the use of eminent domain for transmission line projects.

COLORADO CONTACTS

Colorado Legislators to contact:

Sen. John Hickenlooper – (202) 224-5941 | hickenlooper.senate.gov

Sen. Michael Bennet – (202) 224-5852 | bennet.senate.gov

Rep. Lauren Boebert (CO-03, covering southeast Colorado) – (202) 225-4761 | boebert.house.gov

Residents can submit public comments by emailing NIETC@hq.doe.gov or through the Federal Register prior to Feb. 14.