Transmitting Consensus: A Political Guide to Transmission Reform in the United States

Abstract

Throughout the next three decades the United States’ energy system will go through a dramatic shift. When increasing energy demand for electricity, spurred on by everything from electrification for decarbonization to massive computing resources for artificial intelligence, meets an ageing grid and expanding variable renewable energy development, electricity resilience, reliability, and economic growth will rely upon the United States’ ability to dramatically expand inter-regional high-voltage transmission line development. The United States is wholly unprepared for this challenge, however. Political forces, most notably local opposition, make HVTL development extremely time consuming and costly. The origins of this opposition, however, have been scantly studied in a domestic context. Through interviews with local, state, and national government officials, developers and planners of HVTLs, among other research methods, I argue that (1) opposition to HVTL development is still in its infancy and (2) without substantial reforms to the transmission planning apparatus, additional national incentive programs, and credible local engagement, increasing opposition to infrastructure development in rural settings will debilitate any hope of constructing a robust energy system.