Texas Regulators Approved Two 765-kV Transmission Lines on August 28, 2026: What Landowners in the Path Can Ask a Lawyer

What Changed, and When

The vote. According to The Texas Tribune’s account of the August 28, 2026 open meeting, the five-member Public Utility Commission of Texas voted unanimously to approve amendments to two Certificates of Convenience and Necessity, authorizing the buildout of more than 400 miles of transmission line. The Tribune reported that commissioners tabled a decision on a third application, the Howard Solstice line through South Texas, for further deliberation.

Where the lines run. The same report describes two 765-kilovolt lines carrying electricity southwest from Bosque County and northwest from San Antonio into the Permian Basin, with the two applications spanning at least 30 counties. Barring successful legal challenges, the Tribune reported, the approval clears the last administrative step before construction can begin.

Where the plan came from. The lines are the first proposals under the Permian Basin Reliability Plan to be approved. The plan traces to House Bill 5066, passed by the Texas Legislature in 2023, which directed the Public Utility Commission to have the Electric Reliability Council of Texas develop a long-term reliability plan for high-growth areas. Commissioners approved the draft plan in October 2024; that draft included three 765-kilovolt lines.

What landowners argued. The Tribune reported that all five applications drew hundreds of administrative protests and interventions from landowners whose property falls along a route, that some testified the company did not give them enough time to contest the applications, and that the commission’s administrative court agreed with that assessment. Commissioners ultimately found the company had satisfied the requirements of the law. The bulk of protests began in December 2025, when landowners received letters about lines that would cross their properties; the Tribune reported that some landowners said they had 21 days to respond.

A pending request to pause. Also on August 28, 2026, the Office of the Texas Attorney General announced that it had filed an amicus curiae brief before the State Office of Administrative Hearings supporting a landowner organization’s motion to defer a determination of need on the 765-kilovolt buildout, which the release puts at roughly $33 billion statewide. The release states that the brief asks regulators to defer further action until the Legislature can review the plan, and that “the PUC has not yet ruled on the motion to defer.” That request is a separate proceeding from the two approvals described above.

Who in Texas This Reaches

• Landowners along the approved routes — farms, ranches, hunting operations and rural homesteads in the corridor running from Bosque County and from the San Antonio area toward West Texas. The two applications span at least 30 counties, per the Tribune.
• Central and West Texas generally, including the Hill Country, the Concho Valley, the Big Country and the Permian Basin — the markets around San Angelo, Abilene, Midland and Odessa sit in or near the destination end of the buildout.
• Owners whose tract is near, but not on, a route. Notice in these proceedings has historically gone to owners whose land a proposed route crosses and to owners with a habitable structure within a set distance of the centerline, so a neighboring tract can be affected without being crossed.
• Agricultural operators and lessees — grazing leases, hunting leases, irrigation and aerial application can all be touched by a right-of-way even where the fee owner is someone else.
• Mineral and surface interest owners in the Permian Basin counties at the western end of the project.
• Ratepayers statewide, on the cost question raised in the Attorney General filing, though that is a policy proceeding rather than an individual claim.

What This Changes Legally

• A route approval is not, by itself, a taking of your land. Approving a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity settles whether a line may be built and where it may run. Acquiring the right-of-way across a particular tract is a separate step, and that step is governed by Texas eminent domain law.
• Texas eminent domain law is written down and public. The framework sits in Article I, Section 17 of the Texas Constitution, Chapter 21 of the Texas Property Code and Chapter 2206 of the Texas Government Code.
• An offer has to meet statutory requirements before a condemnation suit is filed. The Office of the Attorney General’s State of Texas Landowner’s Bill of Rights explains that a condemning entity must make a bona fide offer that conforms with Chapter 21 before filing suit, and that an initial written offer includes a copy of the Landowner’s Bill of Rights statement, an appraisal or a statement about damages to the remainder of the property, and an instrument of conveyance.
• The Landowner’s Bill of Rights is a statutory document, not a brochure. Its contents are prescribed by the Legislature in Texas Government Code Section 402.031 and Chapter 21 of the Property Code, and it applies to any attempt by a government or a private entity to take property.
• Landowners may hire their own professionals. The same publication states that a landowner is entitled to adequate compensation if property is condemned, may hire an appraiser or other professional to determine value, and may hire an attorney to negotiate with the condemning entity and to provide representation in proceedings.
• Easement terms are negotiable in a way the route often is not. Width, access roads, gates and fencing, construction timing, aerial and agricultural operations, restoration, and damages to the remainder are ordinarily addressed in the easement document itself.
• Regulatory review is not finished everywhere. The Howard Solstice application was tabled, and the motion to defer the determination of need remains pending, per the Attorney General release.

None of that decides any particular tract. What a route approval means for one property depends on the approved centerline, the survey, the easement language, the appraisal and the recorded interests in that specific file.

What Kind of Option Might Apply

This page is information, not legal advice, and it is not a prediction about any property. What a lawyer can review includes:

• For an owner who has received an easement offer: a real estate or eminent domain attorney can read the written offer against the Chapter 21 requirements, check what the appraisal did and did not value, and explain what the proposed easement would actually permit on the land.
• For an owner still waiting on contact: a lawyer can check whether the approved route crosses the tract, what notice the owner is entitled to, and what records are worth gathering now.
• For a rancher, farmer or hunting operator: a lawyer can raise operational impacts — aircraft use, livestock handling, irrigation, access and fencing — as easement terms and as elements of damages, rather than leaving them to be assumed.
• For an owner who wants to participate in the proceeding: an administrative law attorney can explain what intervening in a Public Utility Commission docket involves, what the deadlines are, and what a challenge after a commission order requires.
• For an owner of a tract near a route: a lawyer can explain what, if anything, Texas law provides where land is affected but not crossed.
• For a lessee or mineral interest owner: a lawyer can review how a lease or a reserved interest interacts with a new right-of-way.

Why Acting Quickly Can Matter

The response windows in this process have already proved short. The Tribune reported that landowners who received route letters in December 2025 said they had 21 days to respond, and that the commission’s administrative court agreed the timeframe was a problem. Administrative deadlines in a Public Utility Commission docket, and the deadlines for challenging a commission order in court, are set by rule and statute rather than by the parties. Separately, an easement offer is easiest to evaluate before it is signed: once a right-of-way instrument is recorded, its terms govern the land for as long as the easement lasts. Documents such as the notice letter, the route map, the offer, the appraisal, the survey and the deed are also easiest to gather while they are recent. It is best to talk with a lawyer early, while the widest range of options is still open, rather than after a deadline has passed.

Sources

1. Office of the Attorney General of Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton Supports Pause of 765-kV Transmission Line Buildout Pending Legislative Review (August 28, 2026; primary document, including the pending motion to defer).
2. Public Utility Commission of Texas, Permian Basin Reliability Plan (agency page for the plan and its dockets).
3. The Texas Tribune, PUC approves two statewide transmission lines (August 28, 2026), also carried by Texas Public Radio.
4. Office of the Attorney General of Texas, The State of Texas Landowner’s Bill of Rights (PDF).
5. Texas Property Code, Chapter 21 (Eminent Domain).
6. Texas Government Code, Chapter 2206 (Eminent Domain), and Article I, Section 17 of the Texas Constitution.
7. Texas State Law Library, Eminent Domain research guide (neutral authority collecting the statutes and landowner publications).