This past Thursday, April 16, an informational meeting was held at the county courthouse to relay important information about the construction of 765kv electric transmission lines through our area. It is important to understand that these transmission lines will be built, land will be condemned for the construction and easements, and the resulting 20-story-tall towers will be very visible and permanent in our area.
Please note that more proposed routes have been added since the project was first announced with the additional routes to the north of the original routes, many in San Saba County and directly adjacent to San Saba, Cherokee, and Richland Springs.
County Judge Jody Fauley and county commissioners engaged J. Pete Laney, an Austin attorney who regularly works on eminent domain cases, to address concerned citizens regarding the transmission line project. The most urgent and important bit of information from this meeting is that the deadline to file as an intervener on this project is Monday, April 27. Filing as an intervener is a simple process and must be done if a landowner expects to have any influence over the eventual route of the transmission line. Interveners then prepare and submit “direct testimony” to the PUC in the form of written statements and supporting documents and materials. The deadline for submitting the direct testimony is Wednesday, May 13, 2026.
It is important to note that in the unlikely event you are called to be cross-examined on your testimony, you will not be compelled to travel to Austin. Cross examination, if it happens at all, is usually done in writing, on a phone call, or on a video call.
Mr. Laney noted there are not many attorneys in Texas who do this specific kind of work, and once those attorneys have been engaged to work on particular segments of a line, they cannot also work on alternative segments within the same line due to the conflict that entails. He suggests you still contact attorneys, particularly any that your neighbors are working with, because you may be able to be “aligned” with your neighbors.
Deadlines are fast approaching so if you would like to have any influence at all, you must act now. Even if you cannot get on with an attorney, you can file as an intervenor then submit your direct testimony. Direct testimony can take many forms and does not have to be written or submitted by a lawyer. Mr. Laney explained that simply submitting a protest or a comment has no influence in this process. Only direct testimony from affected landowners who first filed as intervenors is considered.
Even if you did not receive an affected landowner packet in the mail, you may still be an affected landowner if you own property near the proposed lines. For example, if you own a habitable structure that is near the proposed power line route, you are an affected landowner. Mr. Laney pointed out that the power companies do only a cursory inventory via aerial photography of structures and land features along the proposed routes and therefore miss far more than they identify. It is up to the intervenors/landowners to document things like habitable structures, cemeteries, landing strips, historical or archaeological sites, water wells, livestock pens and facilities, caves or karsts, and unique natural features such as sensitive habitat or endangered species.
There are several sources of more detailed maps and information. First, detailed, interactive maps may be found online by searching “LCRA Big House Interactive Map” or at: https://bit.ly/4tZ4Hvw. (You will have to check a box saying you understand the map has not been verified for accuracy in order to see the map.) In addition, large printed maps and four binders of detailed information are available at the Rylander Memorial library in San Saba. See photos above.
The best, most efficient way to file as an intervenor and/or keep up with the status of this project is online via the Public Utility Commission website, specifically the PUC Interchange Filer and the PUC Interchange Filing Search, both of which can be accessed through https://www.puc.texas.gov/agency/rulesnlaws/participate/. A key bit of information is the “ Control Number” AKA “ Docket Number” for this project, which is 59475.
The library also has public access computers with internet access which could be used to access the above website and the PUC Interchange Filer, the Public Utility Commission website where Intervenor forms and testimony are submitted, and the PUC Interchange Filing Search, where you can see all the filings that have been made already.