Why Landowners Fight Wind And Solar Transmission Lines

But there’s another big problem I ran into when reporting the story in Montana. It turns out even siting transmission lines on private land is difficult — far more difficult than, say, siting a wind turbine. The reason is the way landowners are compensated — or not — for transmission. If a developer wants to put a wind turbine on a patch of private land, he offers to pay a per-acre fee and a percentage of the revenues produced by the turbine. Landowners jump at the chance; siting wind is not a problem in Montana, and ranchers across the state are eager to farm wind along with wheat and cattle. But when a developer wants to build a transmission line, he seeks approval under Montana’s Major Facilities Siting Act. If the project is approved, the state can condemn land if need be. The landowner is paid a one-time fee for the land under the wires, but the fee can be small — 80% to 90% of the land’s fair market value. After all, being able to threaten condemnation does a lot for one’s position at the negotiating table. This is simply not nearly enough to compensate owners for what the wires do to the value of their land, so they fight against it instead of for it. It’s a case of “not in my backyard” – at least at that price. It’s not an issue unique to Montana. This issues have come up in Oklahoma, Kansas and other windy states...more