PRESIDIO AND JEFF DAVIS COUNTIES — A years-long effort by American Electric Power (AEP) to upgrade the 1929-built transmission line running from Marfa to Fort Davis reached a critical next step on May 21 when the company filed its application for the project with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
The project involves replacing existing wooden poles with 75- to 85-feet-tall weathered steel monopoles and upgrading voltage from 69kV to 138kV. The transmission line starts at the Alamito Creek substation in Marfa’s Sal Si Puedes neighborhood and runs north adjacent to TX-17, ending at the Fort Davis substation. It is the sole power provider for the town of Fort Davis. New routes could follow a similar path or divert through areas farther east and west of the highway, passing near the Marfa Airport or residential areas like Mano Prieto.
AEP collected public feedback from Marfa and Fort Davis property owners affected by the infrastructure upgrade in early 2022, which was submitted as part of the PUC application, said AEP External Affairs Manager Blake Burchard. It is possible that the line will remain where it currently stands or that the PUC will approve one of the other alternative routes submitted for consideration by AEP.
“The PUC will go through their normal process and then approve a route to go in some direction,” Burchard said. “It could be any piece or part of any of those line sections on that map.”
There are a total of nine alternative transmission line routes, ranging in length from 19.91 miles to 29 miles, and ranging in cost from approximately $32.1 million to $40.1 million. The cost of the project will be paid off overtime by ratepayers. Burchard said the PUC will keep the ratepayers in mind, likely choosing a cost-effective option.
“They’re the overseers of the public’s wallet, if you will, so they’re trying to look at the best route with the least complications, and also looking at the finances of it as well,” Burchard said.
Burchard said AEP is hoping to hear back from the PUC on its application by July. Once the PUC approves a route, AEP will work with landowners along the chosen route for around a year, beginning in July 2025, to obtain easements for construction and in order to access the poles for repairs. AEP will maintain 100-foot rights-of-way on either side of each pole.
Burchard said AEP is rarely required to evoke eminent domain and for the most part reaches agreements with property owners. AEP will move to acquire property in cases where they plan to build a substation, he said, though he is not aware of plans to construct any new substations at this time. There are two smaller substations along the current route. If the PUC approves a route different from the existing route, links will need to be added to connect those substations to the new route.
Burchard said once easements are obtained by the company’s right-of-way group, engineering and design will start in August 2025. Construction is set to begin in August 2026 and wrap in April 2028, he said. “It just takes time to get these types of structures built and delivered,” Burchard said.
The fact that the utility will need to keep the existing line “hot,” or active, during the new line’s construction because it is the only line powering the town of Fort Davis “adds another layer of difficulty to building the line,” Burchard said.
In public meetings held in 2022 citizens expressed concerns over the impacts the new, much larger metal poles would have on the viewshed on TX-17, and some Sal Si Puedues residents took issue with more energy infrastructure coming to their residential neighborhood. The Dixon Water Foundation argued against the new transmission line running through its undeveloped research ranch — a proposed route that has since been removed.
According to a PUC spokesperson, a public hearing on the project is scheduled for July 26. Affected landowners wishing to “intervene,” the only way to fully participate in the PUC’s decision on where to put the line according to AEP, must do so by June 20. Dates are subject to change.
A detailed map of the potential routes and instructions on how to become an intervener were provided as part of AEP’s public notice in the May 30 Edition of The Big Bend Sentinel. Maps can be viewed in person at the Marfa Public Library and the Jeff Davis County Library.
For more information, visit aeptransmission.com/texas/AlamitoCreek-FortDavis/