The bill directs the Secretary of Energy to study using highway and rail rights-of-way as places to build high-voltage electric transmission lines. The Secretary must consult the Secretary of Transportation, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and relevant National Laboratories. The study must review past and current projects, identify best practices for planning and permitting, collect or consolidate data on covered rights-of-way, and identify locations suitable for transmission. For each suitable right-of-way the study must evaluate technical options (for example, high-voltage alternating current, high-voltage direct current, overhead or underground lines), assess costs and benefits, identify funding and financing options, and analyze effects on the environment, railroad operations, and nearby communities (including possible electromagnetic interference and maintenance issues). The Secretary must develop an interagency action plan and resources for federal, state, and local agencies and for utilities and railroad carriers, consult stakeholders, publish study elements as they are completed, and submit a final report and machine-readable data to Congress within three years. The bill defines "covered right-of-way" to include highway rights-of-way (including the National Highway System) and rail rights-of-way (including abandoned railroads).
The bill requires a federal study and planning work. It does not itself authorize building transmission lines or provide funding for construction. The study and published resources are intended to help federal, state, and local agencies, utilities, and rail carriers consider using transportation rights-of-way for future transmission projects.
No publicly available information on funding levels or direct costs is included in the bill text. The bill requires the Department of Energy to conduct the study and publish results within three years but does not specify appropriations or budget amounts.
The bill states a sense of Congress that transportation rights-of-way should be used in ways that serve the public interest, including accommodating new electric transmission. Its stated purpose is to accelerate development of high-voltage transmission in order to ease transmission capacity constraints and help deliver more affordable, reliable electricity to consumers.
No publicly available information.