Senate memorial urges DOE, FERC and Congress to consult landowners before Southwestern grid corridor uses eminent‑domain‑style authority

Senator Woods introduced Senate Memorial 16, which asks federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Energy to work with impacted communities and to avoid broad land seizures in planning a proposed Southwestern grid transmission corridor. The sponsor said constituents in eastern New Mexico learned of a large federal corridor proposal with little direct outreach and asked the legislature to register concern.

Nut graf: The memorial seeks to protect private landowners and local economies by urging collaboration, transparency and negotiated acquisition rather than broad seizure; committee members and witnesses described a perceived lack of federal communication and warned of heavy local economic impacts if a corridor — described in DOE materials as up to 5–15 miles wide in places — were imposed without meaningful local input.

The committee first considered and unanimously adopted an amendment that removed inflammatory language (struck the word “dangerous” in reference to battery storage in the draft memorial), replaced wording about “seize” with “acquire,” and added a direction to pursue negotiated consent where possible. Witnesses from rural counties, county commissions and electric co‑ops said DOE and FERC had not provided adequate notice or local meetings; ranchers and business owners gave examples of potential harm to family operations, small towns and local lenders if a wide corridor were finalized. Speakers included representatives of the New Mexico Rural Electric Cooperative Association and numerous landowners who said a wide corridor could wipe out family ranch operations and town economies.

Committee members pressed sponsors to clarify whether the corridor would actually transfer ownership (eminent domain) or be limited to easements, and asked whether federal agencies had legal authority to apply a corridor over private lands. Witnesses said the corridor designation is in an informational phase with pending DOE and FERC actions and that much remained unclear; multiple senators urged the sponsor to pursue more federal engagement for local stakeholders.

After debate and a recorded vote, the committee gave the memorial a do‑pass recommendation as amended; the committee recorded five affirmative votes and three negatives on the final roll call. Sponsors and committee members said the memorial is intended to prompt federal outreach and to encourage negotiated solutions that minimize impacts on landowners.