Texas Joins Coalition Demanding Senate Reject Energy Bill They Say Undermines States’ Rights

Texas has joined a Louisiana-led coalition of 17 state attorneys general opposing a rushed U.S. Senate bill they say would let the Biden administration “run roughshod over states’ rights” by advancing a “radically impractical energy agenda.”

Meanwhile, the White House sees the legislation as enabling and connecting “clean energy” into the country’s electricity grid.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday co-signed a letter to Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) opposing the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022, saying it is effectively a back door to the failed Obama-era Clean Power Plan.

According to the letter, the bill contains three interrelated provisions that, when taken together, allow private companies and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to eviscerate states’ ability to chart their own land-use and energy policies.

“First, it would authorize private companies to use eminent domain against state land. Second, it would authorize FERC to command utilities to construct entirely new transmission facilities whenever and wherever FERC deems necessary,” the letter states (pdf).

“And third, it would authorize companies to spread costs of constructing new transmission facilities onto residents of other states, requiring citizens of one state to subsidize the agenda of politicians and bureaucrats in other states.”

Under eminent domain, a governmental authority can seize property from a private or public owner for public purposes.

Paxton’s office said in a statement that this would allow the Biden administration, largely through the FERC, to “run roughshod over states’ rights by advancing a radically impractical energy agenda, all while forcing taxpayers to foot the bill.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Sept. 21 that the legislation, which she said will boost America’s ability to get clean energy built and connected to the grid, has the support of President Joe Biden.

“Today, far too many energy projects face delays—keeping us