By Frank Jossi for Energy News Network.
Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Minnesota News Connection reporting for the Joyce Foundation-Public News Service Collaboration

A coalition of labor and environmental groups is putting its support behind perennial Minnesota legislation meant to lift a barrier to building power lines in the rights-of-way of federal highways in the state.

NextGen Highways is a national collaboration that promotes co-location of utility infrastructure in existing highway corridors as a way to accelerate expansion of the electric grid.

The concept has widespread public support, according to the group's polling, but it also faces various legal, financial, and technical obstacles across the country.

"What we're trying to do in Minnesota - and in states across the country - is to identify barriers and work with our coalition partners to develop strategies to overcome those barriers," said Randy Satterfield, executive director of NextGen Highways.

One example in Minnesota is a state law requiring the Minnesota Department of Transportation to pay utilities if they are forced to move any assets, such as poles or towers, in federal highway rights-of-way. A pair of bills (House Bill 3900, Senate Bill 3949) would shift those costs to utilities instead, making it consistent with existing rules for state highway corridors.

Without that change, the state won't allow transmission projects to be built in its portion of federal highway rights-of-way. State transportation officials have proposed such legislation multiple times since 2012, but the bills have never succeeded amid opposition from utilities.

Many transmission projects already follow highway corridors, Satterfield said. They include several announced last year by MISO, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. Three of those projects cover portions of Minnesota and follow highways for parts of their routes.

Not all transmission lines that share routes with highways are located within the public right-of-way. Some are built on adjacent private property instead, which still requires negotiations with hundreds of individual owners. When developers have the option of placing towers or burying lines within the public right-of-way, it can significantly streamline a project.

With clean energy's escalating growth trajectory, more solar and wind developers will request permission to build projects and power lines in rural communities, Satterfield predicted.

"I think we owe it to (communities) to at least consider utilizing existing linear infrastructure, like highways and interstates, for the transmission infrastructure," he said.

'This is a kind of low-hanging fruit'

Still, transmission developers wanting to take these routes often run into obstacles. Many state departments of transportation still recall a federal restriction, since rescinded, that did not allow transmission in federal highway rights-of-way, he said. Other states have no culture of allowing highway rights-of-way to co-locate with transmission.

NextGen Highways formed to advocate for transmission in highway corridors and to encourage states to remove any barriers to that goal. Minnesota is the first state where it has launched a state coalition to advance the concept.

"Transmission congestion is the biggest hurdle that we have to overcome to reach our 100% energy goals and to get more renewables and other forms of energy on the grid," said George Damian, government affairs director for Clean Energy Economy Minnesota, a nonprofit that is part of the coalition. "This is a kind of a low-hanging fruit. These rights-of-way owned by the state can be utilized for transmission."

Utilities, lawmakers and stakeholders continue to discuss the legislation. Theo Keith, Xcel Energy's spokesperson, said the utility has been "encouraged by the early conversations we've had with lawmakers and other stakeholders." Xcel has proposed hundreds of miles of transmission lines in road corridors and often shares easements with the transportation department, he said.

Keith cited the CapX2020 project as an example of Xcel and other utilities building a major transmission corridor adjacent to the Interstate 94 right-of-way.

"Building new transmission lines is critical to meeting our clean energy goals and those of the states in which we operate, including Minnesota's 2040 benchmark," he said.

Overcoming barriers

Minnesota can look to its neighbor in Wisconsin for an example of how highway corridors could be used for transmission. That state passed a law 20 years ago to make federal and state highway rights-of-way a priority for siting transmission. Satterfield, who once worked for a transmission company in Wisconsin, said the state's utilities built more than 200 miles of transmission projects on federal highways.

Wisconsin did not ask utilities to move poles or other assets on any of the projects, he said. Wisconsin's Department of Transportation coordinates and plans projects with utilities to avoid potential problems, such as highway lane expansion that could encroach on transmission lines.

In addition to changing the Minnesota statute on utility colocation on federal roads, the NexGen Highway Coalition wants the Legislature to consider a siting priorities law. The law requires utilities to consider existing transportation corridors, such as highways and railways, before opting for greenfield development.

Minnesota Department of Transportation Strategic Partnerships Director Jessica Oh said the agency had put forth five to six legislative proposals since 2012 to repeal the language in the statute regarding utility infrastructure near federal highways and will support continued efforts. Utilities opposed the measure because of the additional expense they might incur in projects, she said.

A change to the state law was also suggested in a report to the legislature based on permitting reform discussions held by the Public Utilities Commission, she said.

In studying Wisconsin's experience, the department learned the importance of early coordination with clean energy developers and utilities "is key to the success of the whole process." Minnesota transportation staff have conducted early planning sessions involving aerial encroachments on state highways with utility partners.

Oh said the department's "highest concern" around utility infrastructure has always been safety. Should the legislation pass, the transportation department will continue to work closely with utilities, especially since power lines will become instrumental in moving electric vehicles on highways.

Oh added Minnesota is among 11 states selected by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the Transportation Research Board's National Cooperative Highway Research Program for a "moonshots" program for state departments of transportation. Oh leads the initiative in Minnesota to co-locate more transmission and broadband in highway corridors.

"We have a stake in this because of the electrification of transportation," Oh said. "I tend to think our fates are intertwined in energy and transportation."

Great Plains Institute convenes NextGen Highways, which partners with the Center for Rural Affairs, Clean Energy Economy Minnesota, Conservative Energy Forum, Fresh Energy, Laborers' International Union of North America-Minnesota and North Dakota, Mechanical Contractors Association, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and the National Audubon Society.


Frank Jossi wrote this article for Energy News Network.


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Colorado's second-largest electricity provider, the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, projects new federal clean energy funding will lower costs to Tri-State ratepayers by $420 million over the next 20 years.

Jeremy Fisher, principal adviser for climate and energy at the Sierra Club, said many urban customers are already benefiting from less costly wind and solar power, largely generated in wide-open, rural spaces.

"While that can be great for jobs and has been fantastic economic development opportunities, a lot of rural customers haven't actually seen those direct benefits accrue to their bills," Fisher pointed out.

Tri-State is one of 16 rural electric cooperatives selected to get a chunk of more than $7 billion allocated through the Biden administration's Empowering Rural America Program, the largest investment in rural electrification since the Great Depression.

The cooperative plans to replace 1,100 megawatts of coal-fired electricity with wind, solar and battery storage. The plan would also cut nearly six tons of climate pollution, the equivalent of tailpipe pollution from 1.4 million gas-powered cars, each year.

Tri-State is set to receive up to $679 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-directed program. Fisher noted the utility has committed up to $70 million to support Moffat County communities, including the town of Craig, where Unit Three of Tri-State's coal plant will close by 2028.

"I think Tri-State has been a leading entity in really pursuing ways of engaging with the communities that are impacted by those closures," Fisher acknowledged. "To ensure that there's employment benefit and financial benefit flowing to those communities."

Fisher believes the program will ensure electric co-ops like Tri-State can remain competitive and resilient, and keep good-paying clean energy jobs in rural communities.

"Leading utilities are stepping up to the plate and have put forward ambitious plans that will be transformational to those communities, and transformational to these energy systems," Fisher concluded.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation has been awarded a grant to cut climate pollution.

It is part of the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Pollution Reductions grant program. The funding will be spent on installing electric vehicle charging stations at government buildings around the reservation.

Raheim Eleazer, environmental liaison for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, hopes to install at least a dozen charging stations. He said the funding will help reduce emissions in other ways.

"We're also hoping to electrify some of the governmental fleet vehicles," Eleazer explained. "We're hoping to do 13 of those whether it's hybrid or fully electric vehicles."

Another project for the grant funding involves helping 34 people living on the reservation convert or support their gas-powered cars through a rebate program. He pointed out reducing pollution from transportation has substantial health benefits. Connecticut's worsening air quality has increased asthma rates for Mashantucket Pequot Tribe members. While the grant runs for five years, each project has its own timeline.

Feedback to the grant has been resoundingly positive. Eleazer pointed out electric-vehicle charging stations are a big focus for the community. He thinks the new charging stations will encourage people to buy electric vehicles and added it is only the start, since the comprehensive climate action plan outlines plans for other renewable energy projects.

"The possibility or the interest of producing or generating energy from renewable resources such as solar," Eleazer suggested. "I know I have personally been looking into potentially thermal networking for the reservation."

He emphasized creating a microgrid is also an option with interest being shown by the community in diversifying energy generation, because he argued using one renewable energy source is not sustainable in New England.


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Alternative energy advocates say Iowa is making significant progress on reaching its green power goals by 2035.

The state has become a national leader in wind production. The Iowa Environmental Council took the unusual step of hosting a "Condition of the State" webinar to announce the areas where Iowa is making progress on reaching its alternative energy goals.

Steve Guyer, energy policy counsel for the commission, said solar and wind top the list.

"Overall, in 2019, we actually started generating more wind in the state than we actually got from our coal plants in the state," Guyer pointed out. "That actually is continuing, where the coal plant generation is going down and wind is going up."

Iowa is among the nation's leading producers of wind energy, despite pushback from some farm groups. Guyer added beyond the economic benefits of alternative energy, there are air and water quality implications too, both of which he said have improved with the increase in green power.

Guyer noted reducing emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants has a dramatic effect on crop production in Iowa. He cited a 10-year study showing the effects of closing specific coal-powered facilities.

"Some of those plants were actually Iowa-based plants," Guyer emphasized. "They saw a marked increase in production after the closure of those plants. The theory is that the sun basically is being blocked, and so, if it had the sunlight that wasn't being blocked, it would produce more. So yes, coal plants definitely are impacting corn production."

Iowa is getting help from the federal Inflation Reduction Act to invest in alternative energy sources. However, the report said none of the utilities in Iowa are taking what it calls "adequate steps to achieve a carbon-free energy sector by 2035."


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