CHEYENNE — An advocacy group for farmers and ranchers in Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico says landowners should receive annual payments from developers that build power lines across their property.
The Rocky Mountain Farmers Union says its proposal would alleviate opposition from landowners to planned transmission projects — many of which are stalled in courts throughout the West. In a report, the union also calls for landowners to have a bigger say in where transmission lines are placed.
But an official with a transmission-line company said such a concept would increase costs, which will ultimately be paid by consumers.
The Denver-based farmers union, which held a forum on the topic Thursday during its annual convention, developed the proposal with the help of a transmission-line developer, Cornerstone TransCo LLC.
Landowners currently get one-time payments from developers that build power lines on their land. But developers’ ability to condemn that land — and a belief among landowners that one-time payments they get from developers aren’t enough — has fueled costly and time-consuming disputes that also block development of upstream power-generation projects.
The farmers union says its proposal would more fairly compensate landowners and speed up wind-farm and transmission-line projects.
The farmers union also called on landowners to form associations to increase their negotiating power with developers on power-line location and compensation.
