Lawmakers hear pitch to allow high‑voltage transmission lines in highway rights of way

At an informational meeting of the House Climate Energy and Environment Committee on Feb. 19, Randy Satterfield, executive director of Next Gen Highways, urged Oregon lawmakers to revise Oregon Department of Transportation policy to permit strategically placed high‑voltage transmission lines in interstate and other controlled‑access highway rights of way. Satterfield said the change could speed development of new transmission needed to meet rising electricity demand.

Satterfield told the committee that studies project large increases in transmission capacity needs: "NREL ... concluded that we need to double the size of existing capacity on the grid by 2050," and a Westech consortium study, he said, identifies more than 12,000 miles of new transmission needed across the western United States. He argued that siting new lines in already disturbed highway corridors would reduce environmental impacts and affect far fewer private landowners than greenfield routes.

Satterfield cited operational examples from other states. He said Wisconsin’s 2003 Act 89 prompted WisDOT to change its policy, secure FHWA approval and allow…