In between tour stops in Calgary and Minnesota, country music star Tanya Tucker made a detour to the Texas Capitol this week to sing a line of one of her biggest hits – with a key twist.
“It’s not a little too late to do the right thing now,” Tucker sang to lawmakers at a hearing where she and dozens of others protested plans to build high-voltage electric transmission lines through their ranch land.
The contested transmission lines are part of a larger program to get more electricity to the Permian Basin, the heart of the state’s energy sector in West Texas. Starting as soon as next summer, the state electric grid monitor has warned that region could face rotating outages, even without the additional of new data centers.
“The consequences of not getting this right are catastrophic,” Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, told lawmakers at the same hearing.
Tucker, like others who testified in Austin, said they understand Texas needs more power and want what is good for the state, but are concerned about how fast the process has been moving. They said landowners sometimes have had to find lawyers within days as they scramble to protect their land. Others say they’ve been cut out of the process entirely, even as the project would mean putting the lines through their land.
“I just think we need more time to process what is happening to us,” said Tucker, who lives in Burnet County, just northwest of Austin. “They threatened a 140-year-old multi-generational ranch where I live. They threaten the lives and livelihood of thousands of other Texans who cannot be here and cannot be heard.”
It’s the second time Tucker has testified before the Legislature on the issue this summer. Last month, she raised her concerns before the Texas Senate. Her comments, and those of other landowners, have touched a nerve with lawmakers, some of whom are now calling on the Public Utility Commission to reject the transmission line proposals so the Legislature can have time to change the way the process works for landowners. The PUC could decide next month whether to move ahead with the project.
While the PUC holds the key to the next steps, it was the Legislature in 2023 that passed the laws that now require the PUC to complete the transmission line approval process in 180 days — half the time it used to take.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the Texas Senate, is among those who said after the hearing last month the system needs to be revised.
“The testimony made it abundantly clear the current process being utilized by the PUC for proposing and approving transmission lines is broken and must be reformed,” Patrick said last month. “If these lines are going to be built, which many believe must be built, then the PUC’s transmission approval process must not only prioritize strengthening the grid, but also protect Texas landowners and communities.”