The BCE Hearing on the Merits is scheduled from Monday, June 8th, to Friday, June 12th, beginning at 9:00 AM each day. Affected Landowner Intervenors can participate in-person or by video conference. The public can watch the Hearing on the Merits live on YouTube by searching for @TexasSOAH on YouTube. No recording will be available.
The State Office of Administrative Hearings ('SOAH') has assigned three administrative law judges ('ALJs') to preside over the BCE Hearing on the Merits. Approximately 60 days after the Hearing, the ALJs will issue a written Proposal for Decision to the PUC. The PUC is the final decision maker, and their decision is scheduled for September 22, 2026, which is 180 days after Oncor and LCRA TSC filed their application.
All witnesses' direct testimony was filed in written form prior to the Hearing on the Merits. The Hearing will consist of cross-examination of the Oncor and LCRA TSC witnesses, the PUC staff engineer witness, and other Intervenors or Experts that have been designated for cross examination. After the hearing, the parties will file written closing arguments consisting of initial briefs by June 19th and reply briefs by June 26th.
The BCE Hearing on the Merits is the last hearing for the three Permian Basin 765kV transmission line cases. Based on the recent Dinosaur to Longshore ('Dinosaur') and Howard-Solstice 765kV Hearings, the cross-examination of the Oncor and LCRA TSC witnesses will happen first and last approximately three days. The cross-examination of the PUC staff engineer will last approximately one day and the cross-examination of the other witnesses will also last one day. The Oncor and LCRA TSC witnesses will likely testify together as a panel consisting of four or five witnesses.
There are approximately 600 Landowner Intervenors in the BCE 765kV contested case, which is similar to the number of Intervenors in the Dinosaur case. However, the volume of direct testimony and discovery is significantly higher in the BCE case according to a recently filed motion: - Over 700 filings of direct testimony have been submitted in the BCE case consisting of 38,600 pages. The Dinosaur case had 500 direct testimony filings consisting of almost 9,600 pages.
- In the BCE case, 133 Request for Information (RFI) Discovery filings were submitted to Oncor and LCRA TSC consisting of over 2,300 questions. This compares to 41 RFI filings in the Dinosaur case consisting of 825 questions.
- Finally, 81 law firms are involved in the BCE case compared to 50 law firms in the Dinosaur case.
The BCE Hearing on the Merits is expected to be the most complex hearing out of the five Permian Basin 765kV transmission line cases due to the volume of direct testimony and discovery. Three ALJs have been assigned to the BCE case compared to two ALJs for the Dinosaur case.
Routing Alternatives
Oncor and LCRA TSC filed their application with the PUC for a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (CCN) for the BCE 765kV transmission line project on Thursday, March 26th. Oncor and LCRATSC made significant additions and revisions to the proposed route links in their Study Area from the original proposed route map. Oncor and LCRA TSC identified 122 alternative routes for their proposed 765kV transmission line using 171 alternative route links.
A significant portion of the BCE Hearing on the Merits will consist of cross-examining witnesses about their routing recommendations for BCE.
Oncor and LCRA TSC recommended Route 894 as the route they believe best meets the requirements of Texas state law set forth in PURA § 37.056(c) (4)(A)-(D) and 16 TAC § 25.101 (referred to as the 'best meets' route). Route 894 passes through central San Saba, McCulloch, Menard and Schleicher counties. Oncor & LCRA TSC's recommendation carries no special weight in the PUC review and approval of the final route. Any route consisting of identified route links may be approved by the PUC.
The PUC engineer assigned to the BCE case recently recommended a different 'best meets' route called Route 487. Route 487 uses many of the same route links as Route 894, except that it runs next to the north boundary of Colorado Bend State Park, and it takes a southwest detour in west McCulloch County and Menard County before returning northwest to the same route links used by Route 894. Other Intervenors and their experts have recommended other 'best meet' routes in the northern and southern part of the Study Area.
The Issue of 'Need'
The Hearing on the Merits will also address the issue of 'need' for the BCE 765kV transmission line. Twenty-five legislators, led by Representative Brad Buckley, submitted a letter to the PUC dated May 11th, that noted the Permian Basin Reliability Plan can be successfully executed without the immediate construction of all three proposed 765kV transmission lines. The legislators said ERCOT's December 2024 sequencing recommendation to the PUC indicates that only two of the three Permian Basin 765kV transmission lines are needed by 2030.
The legislators suggested that increased energy generation in the Permian Basin could provide greater long-term grid reliability for Texas. The legislators believe there are important questions about timing, cost and whether these projects align with the original legislative intent of HB 5066. The legislators recommended the PUC pause further progress on the Permian Basin 765kV transmission lines so the Texas Legislature can review issues related to generation, storage and transmission before the 2027 Legislative Session.
Oncor Backed 765kV Public Relations Campaign
On Tuesday, May 26th, an Oncor backed group issued a press release that announced a new coalition to 'champion 765kV transmission investment.' The group is called 'Texans for Responsible Infrastructure Investment' (TRII), and the fourth paragraph of the press release confirms Oncor's involvement.
Oncor's public relations campaign is concerning for a lot of reasons: - Oncor's ratepayers will pay for this public relations campaign.
- Oncor waited until all Intervenor testimony was filed for the last 765kV case (Bell County East) and waited until the deadline passed for serving discovery on Oncor.
- Oncor's public relations campaign is nothing more than Oncor's attempt to silence landowners who are trying to stop Oncor from destroying their property in the Hill Country, Central Texas and West Texas.
Oncor's public relations campaign proves that Oncor has really been driving the PUC and ERCOT to push ahead with these 765kV transmission lines using a decades old routing methodology that is horrible for landowners and that will destroy a significant part of the Hill Country and Central Texas.