Massive transmission line would cut through Burnet County
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The Lower Colorado River Authority and energy delivery company Oncor are tag teaming one of the largest energy infrastructure projects Texas has ever seen: a high-voltage transmission line between Bell and Schleicher counties with all potential routes cutting through northern Burnet County.
The exact details, timeline, and impact of the project are still being sussed out by Burnet County leaders, but it would likely mean right-of-way acquisitions and major construction to accommodate the 765-kilovolt transmission line along its chosen route.
Preliminary designs all show the line passing through some portion of Burnet County, likely impacting private property along the way.
Public information meetings on the project are scheduled for the following dates and locations:
- June 16, 5-7 p.m.—Salado ISD Meadows Room, 601 N. Main St. in Salado
- June 17, 5-7 p.m.—Lampasas Middle School, 208 E. Avenue B in Lampasas
- June 18, 5-7 p.m.—Menard Community Center, 303 Travis St. in Menard
“This (line) is just mammoth across the entire state,” Burnet County Judge Bryan Wilson told DailyTrib.com. “At this point, (LCRA and Oncor) got the authority from the (Public Utility Commission of Texas) to build, and now they have to select their path. We have no idea where exactly it is going to go and how it is going to be done.”
Wilson said he plans to coordinate with the LCRA to provide more information on the project during the June 24 meeting of the Burnet County Commissioners Court.
The transmission line would connect an LCRA substation near El Dorado in Schleicher County to an Oncor substation near Temple in Bell County. It is part of a greater strategy to strengthen the Texas power grid through the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, which aims to bring reliable power to West Texas.
According to all five members of the Commissioners Court, the project came as somewhat of a surprise, with Wilson, Precinct 2 Commissioner Damon Beierle, Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Luther, and Precinct 4 Commissioner Joe Don Dockery all stating they only became fully aware of it within the past two weeks after the LCRA informed the judge of updated plans. Precinct 3 Commissioner Chad Collier told DailyTrib.com he had received some sort of email about it in January, but it was never followed up on.
Judge Wilson brought the matter before commissioners during their June 10 meeting, explaining the court would seek further information but that it seems the project will inevitably impact the county.
A letter from engineering and design firm Kimley-Horn was sent to the official email account of the Burnet County judge on Jan. 24, providing notification of the project and requesting comments or concerns to be sent as plans were being made. That letter asked that all comments be made by Feb. 14.
Wilson told DailyTrib.com that this correspondence was likely lost in the shuffle of communication during the turbulent months following the resignation of former county Judge James Oakley in December 2024. During the chaos, no commissioner had access to the judge’s email, and Wilson was not brought on board until the court selected him in March.
Commissioner Beierle, who was serving as head of the court during that time, said he was not aware of the proposed powerline project.
“I didn’t have access to (the county judge’s email),” he told DailyTrib.com. “I don’t know how we missed it, but we did.”
Based on the line’s preliminary routes, much of it would run through precincts 1 and 2. According to Beierle, in his experience, utility projects have a lot of weight behind them once they get started.
“These utility type projects, once they get traction, they seem like they can’t be stopped,” he explained. “I’m hoping we can run this in a way that will impact landowners the least.”
7 thoughts on “Massive transmission line would cut through Burnet County”
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Bierele was the one quoted and he was running the meetings prior to the appointment. Nice try “Tony”…
Running the meetings isn’t the same as being the County Judge, “Judge”. When was your replacement appointed ” judge”? Wasn’t it March 11 AFTER the letter came from Oncor?Weren’t you still the holdover County Judge when the Oncor email arrived (a retired District Judge said you were still a “holdover county judge” on his Facebook page-he must be right being a retired district judge an all that)?
Jim Luther and Joe Don Dockery fought tooth and nail against Chief Deputy Alan Trevino, the man who would have come into the County Judge position swinging, and dug into issues like this with the aplomb he’s shown running the Sheriff’s Dept, our largest County entity. But somehow, instead of staying on top of disgraced former County Judge James Oakley’s email, Jim Jim Luther and Joe Don Dockery instead chose to back a very old man who later said “well, at least we stopped Alan Trevino.” Now we pay the price… Is this Shakespearian tragicomedy or Hegelian dialectic? Time will tell, like the huge scar coming across the north of our county. Remember this when you vote in 2026. Vote for Chief Deputy Alan Trevino for County Judge, and vote for whoever is running against Joe Don Dockery as Pct 4 Commissioner
This proposed line has nothing to do with PEC. The need for the line and where it is to be located is determined by the Public Utility Commission. They instruct LCRA and Oncor as to where it will be located. As for county judge emails, that account was regularly accessed by the Commissioners Court assistant. Most anything that goes to that address are considered public record, so Comm. Beierle did technically has access to the emails. The LCRA email should have been forwarded to him. It was my practice for her to fish through all the random spam, etc.. and forward the roughly 10% of real communications to my other email that I could access from mobile devices.
Well Judge, Dockery and Luther also had access. Nice try.
Good journalism Dakota! Wouldn’t you think the PEC directors would also know about such an enormous project?
Even if Judge Oakley was locked out of his county email, maybe he would’ve known thru his PEC Directorship?
So sad that we missed the deadline to respond.
Well Burnet county had no problem letting a rocket company come in. Saying it was for the future. This power line is for the future. Farmers in Bell County farm around them now. Most of the people complaining about this are the first ones to call about a power outage at their house. Seems like having this kind of electricity in the area might come in handy in the future. It is hard to believe no one could get access to the judges emails. Also on a different note. Has all the charges against the judge been forgotten?