DENVER–Gov. Jared Polis has signed Colorado onto an 11-state agreement to speed up permitting for new electric transmission lines across the West, adding the state to a regional push governors say can move faster without any new federal or state legislation.
Polis joined the governors of Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Nevada, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, North Dakota, and New Mexico in signing the statement at a June 30 Western Governors’ Association (WGA) meeting. It endorses the Western Transmission Expansion Coalition (WestTEC) and creates the Transmission Permitting Alignment and Coordination Task Force (PACT), intended to untangle state-by-state bottlenecks that slow transmission line construction.
For Colorado, the move builds on another deal struck set earlier this year. In May, Polis joined the governors of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico to launch a multistate geothermal coalition. “Ninety-five percent of America’s capacity for geothermal is located in the western states, and it’s underutilized,” Polis said at the time. “It’s there, and it’s ready, and we want to pursue it.” The transmission pact follows that idea: the resources exist, but the infrastructure to move that power is lacking.
Grid fatigue
Much of the American West’s power grid was built more than six decades ago and is straining under demand from an electrification push, population growth, and maintenance burdens. States already control the levers that determine how fast a line gets built, but those levers are pulled by different bureaucracies with little coordination. Colorado is betting that getting those agencies talking on a shared schedule can move construction along.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who led the push as the WGA’s outgoing chair, called it “the West working at our best, working together across party lines.”
WestTEC isn’t a government body, it’s an industry-led effort that brought together utilities, grid planners, state and tribal governments, and public interest groups to map where new transmission capacity is most needed. The governors’ statement endorses the study and encourages states to pursue the new identified, or comparable alternatives. PACT, meanwhile, will have each state name a lead official to coordinate with neighbors and tribal governments, designate priority lines using shared reliability criteria, and set a common permitting schedule so developers know how long review should take in any participating state.
The generation question
Not everyone in Colorado is convinced the state is holding up its end of the bargain. Amy Cooke, co-host of the Colorado specific energy podcast PowerGab, argues that signing a transmission pact means little if the state isn’t also expanding energy generation that keep the grid stable.
“Western governors, including Jared Polis, are correct: the West absolutely needs more transmission,” Cooke told Complete Colorado. “But transmission is only half the equation. Wires move electrons; they don’t generate electricity. Colorado, under Jared Polis, continues to make it harder to build and retain the dispatchable power plants that keep the lights on when wind and solar output is low.”
Cooke is referring to Gov.Polis’ longstanding push for a 100 percent renewable energy plan in Colorado, which includes electrification mandates, the forced closure of coal-fired plants, and a push to limit use of natural gas by state and local governments.
“A 21st-century grid requires both robust transmission and abundant, reliable, dispatchable generation,” Cooke continued. “Building one while discouraging the other is like widening the highway while banning vehicles. Transmission and dispatchable generation are complementary, not interchangeable.”
Cooke’s critique points to a conflict likely to follow Colorado through the task force’s life. The same governor championing faster transmission permitting has also pushed to phase out coal plants and limit new natural gas generation in the state.
Because much of the West’s land is federally owned, governors also acknowledge the plan will still require at least some federal entanglement, even as they argue state-level coordination can move the needle now.
