Kansas Senators Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall, along with 1st District Congressman Tracey Mann, have introduced a bill to protect property rights in Kansas as the federal government considers an electric transmission line.

The bill introduced by the Kansas lawmakers would prevent the federal government from using taxpayer dollars to seize private property for the transmission line.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor proposal to consider building a transmission line across Kansas. By designating land as part of a transmission corridor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would have new authority to site electric transmission lines.  The corridor was proposed as a way to protect consumers from higher electricity prices, more frequent power outages from extreme weather, and longer outages as the grid struggles to come back online.  The Federal Power Act authorizes the Secretary of Energy to designate any geographic area as a national interest corridor if the Secretary finds that consumers are harmed by a lack of transmission in the area and that the development of new transmission would advance important national interests in that area, such as increased reliability and reduced consumer costs.

In a press release, Moran said he has heard concerns about the project from Kansas residents:  “Kansans have made it clear to the federal government that their land is not for sale.  The NIETC proposal has been problematic from the start since the DOE permitted only 45 days for folks to submit their comments regarding the proposed transmission line. Sen. Marshall, Congressman Mann and I introduced legislation, the passage of which would prohibit the Department of Energy from trampling on the rights of Kansas landowners or usurping the authority of state regulators in order to build a transmission line across Kansas. These decisions should be left up to Kansans, not Washington.”

The legislation would have two major impacts:

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

Moran, Marshall and Mann have secured an agreement from the Department of Energy to continue accepting comments on the corridor project.  Comments can be emailed to NIETC@hq.doe.gov