Pipelines or power lines? Battle over Texas grid threatens reliability, raises prices and pollutants 57%
By Chris Tomlinson0%
7/16/2026, 11:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 35 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Post Hoc (False Cause), and Appeal to Authority, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 20.8% saturation with 177 hits. Analysis detected 1,613 faulty-reasoning hits from 850 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 54.1% and a BS Rank of 57% (9,444 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 56.90% of the article peer group.
Most Texas homes and businesses consume energy in two forms, as molecules and as electrons.
Purveyors of each are in a pitched battle that will determine the reliability and cost of electricity.
Trillions of dollars are at stake, along with economic growth and human lives.
Exaggerated forecasts for electricity demand from artificial intelligence data centers have captured the attention of the public and politicians.
But major Texas industries are trying to shape public opinion, hoping lawmakers will adopt policies that give them an advantage.
By pipe or by wire?
Energy molecules come to us as oil, natural gas, coal and other fossil fuels.
Electrons travel through wires, and while often generated by combusting fossil fuels, electricity increasingly comes from solar panels, wind turbines and stored batteries.
Molecules are delivered by pipes and electrons by wire.
Some companies profit from pipelines, others from transmission lines, and they battle for profits.
TOMLINSON'S TAKE: Gov.
Greg Abbott endangers national security with flip-flop on data centers.
The Texas Legislature, the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas understand that to prevent another deadly blackout like 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, the state needs more and better transmission lines.
On too many days, wind turbines in South Texas or the Panhandle must gear down because there are too few transmission lines to carry all the available power.
The 10 most congested transmission lines cost Texas consumers $1 billion in higher electric bills in fiscal year 2025, ERCOT data showed.
Most are decades old and can only carry 345 kilovolts.
Lawmakers and regulators have approved a plan to build a 765-kilovolt ring of new transmission lines around the state to move electricity more efficiently.
The main reason Texas electricity bills are going higher is to pay for $31 billion in grid improvements between now and 2031.
These contracts are worth billions to utilities like CenterPoint and Oncor.
While for-profit, regulated utilities typically make an 8% profit on new construction, consumers ultimately benefit from lower electricity rates because transmission brings the cheapest electrons possible to the competitive wholesale market.
If you make your money generating electricity, though, more transmission lines mean more competition from potentially cheaper electrons.
A Houston-area natural gas power plant, which generates expensive electrons, generates less profit when transmission lines deliver cheap power from South Texas wind.
Fossil fuel opposition
Texas oil and gas producers didn’t mind wind turbines and solar panels when they generated less than 5% of the power Texas needed 20 years ago.
But when clean energy sources and battery storage began providing a third of ERCOT’s electricity last year, they became a threat to the fossil fuel business.
In the first half of 2026, wind, solar and nuclear provided 52% of the electricity used in ERCOT.
On July 8, batteries provided 11,600 megawatts as the sun set and before the nightly winds began blowing, enough power for 2.9 million homes.
No wonder Texas oil and gas billionaires have spent millions to turn the public against clean energy.
Social media influencers and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, financed by right-wing oil billionaire Tim Dunn, are fomenting opposition to the new 765-kilovolt transmission lines.
Blocking transmission lines slows clean energy.
“Other plans exist that can increase the supply of reliable generation, reduce the cost to consumers, and lessen the impact of new infrastructure projects,” Carson Clayton, the foundation’s anti-transmission campaign director, said in a statement.
“Policymakers should pause implementation of the plan and consider alternatives.”
More pipelines
The University of Houston and the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Foundation say one solution is to spend $1.1 trillion on natural gas pipelines and associated equipment.
The plan proposes spending $40-$48 billion per year across North America on infrastructure for natural gas, oil, natural gas liquids, hydrogen and CO2 capture.
Most of the money would go to Texas to boost natural gas production, expand pipelines and add more capacity to export energy overseas.
Electricity generators would also build more gas-powered plants closer to cities.
Unfortunately, more gas-powered plants reduce reliability, since they fail unexpectedly far more frequently than clean energy.
President Donald Trump, Gov.
Greg Abbott and Lt.
Gov.
Dan Patrick all prioritize fossil fuels over clean energy, even when renewables are cheaper and more convenient.
Trump’s policies alone will cost consumers $650 billion in higher energy costs and reduce gross domestic product by $2.3 trillion between 2026 and 2040, the think tank Energy Innovation calculated.
I don’t blame rural Texans for opposing transmission lines running across their property.
But I recognize that burning fossil fuels causes climate change, and global temperatures are still rising and damaging their land.
Every energy source requires a trade-off.
We must ask who will suffer, how much and how they should be compensated?
But we must also ask who will profit, and how are they manipulating public opinion and politicians to boost those profits?
Award-winning opinion writer Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about money, politics and life in Texas.
Sign up for his “Tomlinson’s Take” newsletter at houstonchronicle.com/tomlinsonnewsletter or expressnews.com/tomlinsonnewsletter.
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