Michigan GOP Bill Would Route Power Lines Along Highway Corridors
A Michigan House Republican wants to let power companies build high-voltage lines along state highway corridors, easing tensions with rural landowners fighting transmission projects on their property.
LANSING, MICHIGAN — A Republican state lawmaker from northern Michigan has introduced legislation to allow aboveground electrical transmission lines within limited access highway rights-of-way, offering an alternative to routing high-voltage lines across private rural land.
What the Bill Would Do
House Bill 5940, sponsored by state Rep. David Prestin (R-Red Cedar), would require the Michigan Department of Transportation to coordinate with utility companies and transmission line developers when evaluating highway corridors for potential line permits. The department would share all known plans with the utility, including details on potential future projects affecting the placement of new high-voltage lines.
If a route along a highway corridor is deemed permissible, either by the transportation department or the utility, the bill would require consultation with the interested company. That consultation would result in a constructability report used when collocation projects — projects built adjacent to one another — are planned or approved.
Both the Michigan Department of Transportation and the utility company would need to approve the findings of that report before a permit could be issued to build aboveground transmission lines along a given highway right-of-way, according to the bill’s text.
Rural Frustration Driving the Proposal
The legislation comes as opposition has grown among rural Michigan residents over several electrical power transmission line projects proposed across the state. Many of those projects would require lines to cross private land, sparking conflicts between property owners and utility developers.
Routing lines through highway corridors — areas already designated as public property — could reduce those conflicts by keeping new infrastructure off privately held land. HB 5940 would not alter existing statutes governing the costs associated with utility line projects, but it would establish new requirements for the transportation department not currently written into state law.
Background on Transmission Line Disputes
Transmission line projects have drawn scrutiny in several parts of Michigan in recent years, with rural landowners raising concerns about the impact on their property. One prominent flashpoint involves ITC’s Oneida Substation in Eaton County’s Oneida Township, identified as the starting point for a proposed transmission line.
Prestin’s bill, as reported by the Michigan Advance, represents an effort to codify standards for utility line collocation and give both state regulators and utility developers a formal process for evaluating highway corridors as an alternative to private land routes.
