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Donna Brutkoski
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 2025
Opening highways to transmission siting can help Commonwealth meet energy goals affordably
Gov. Maura Healey’s proposed Energy Affordability, Independence and Innovation Act — a comprehensive effort to tackle fast-rising energy costs in Massachusetts — includes a call to ensure that the siting and building of transmission lines does not pass unnecessary costs along to the Commonwealth’s ratepayers, who already face some of the country’s highest retail prices for electricity.
One solution to this challenge is to co-locate transmission in existing rights of way — along interstate and other state highways. Today, NextGen Highways is launching a coalition of Massachusetts stakeholders who support removing existing policy barriers to transmission co-location.
“We know Massachusetts has ambitious clean energy goals, and that the state will be counting on its power grid more than ever in the years to come. So we believe the time is now to ensure that highway rights-of-way are available to site transmission,” said Randy Satterfield, NextGen Highways’ executive director. “This is a straightforward option that can help projects get built more quickly and affordably, while also building goodwill in communities.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation issued guidance in 2021 to encourage states to consider co-location of transmission in highway rights of way, but institutional inertia means that many states continue to prohibit it. These states include Massachusetts, where current state policy prohibits transmission from being co-located along interstate highway rights of way and restricts it along state highways with partial controlled access.
But as demand rises from the push to electrify home heating and transportation, as well as the growth of data centers and artificial intelligence, Massachusetts can benefit from a transmission siting policy that streamlines the permitting process. And co-locating transmission along highways can at the same time protect undisturbed land, farms and private property from unnecessary development. Co-location can also be a tool to help develop electric vehicle charging hubs and modernized communications networks across the Commonwealth.
Policy makers in Massachusetts have already pinpointed co-location as a promising option. The Clean Energy Transmission Working Group, established by the 2022 Climate Law, recommended in its 2023 report that when new transmission is needed, “the Commonwealth should encourage [its] co-location … within state-owned or state-controlled properties and corridors, such as highway and railroad rights-of-way.”
NextGen Highways’ work in Massachusetts builds on policy successes the initiative has achieved with similar coalitions in Colorado, where a bill to allow co-location of transmission in interstate highway rights of way was signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis in May, and Minnesota, where policy makers are working to implement similar legislation passed last year.
The coalition’s current members represent energy and environmental interests across the Commonwealth. Organizations seeking to join the effort and move forward common-sense transmission siting policy in Massachusetts can visit nextgenhighways.org to learn more.
More from Coalition Members:
Joe Kennedy III, president, Citizens Energy Corporation:
“Meeting our growing energy demand — and doing it affordably — will take all of us: utilities, policymakers, advocates, and communities working together. By rallying around smart, common-sense solutions, Massachusetts can achieve its clean energy goals while keeping costs down. Opening our highways to transmission is one of those solutions, allowing us to build the infrastructure we need faster, at lower cost, and with less disruption to communities. Citizens Energy is proud to join this coalition to help make that future a reality.”
Casey Bowers, Action Fund Executive Director, Environmental League of Massachusetts:
“Expanding our transmission network is key to unlocking the full potential of our clean energy assets. Co-locating lines along our highways is a win-win for our clean energy transition and our communities, delivering reliability and lower costs to families and businesses when they need it most.”
Steve Long, Director of Policy and Partnerships, The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts:
“As Massachusetts works to fast-track clean energy siting and permitting, it’s essential to expand transmission options within the built environment—like highways—to minimize impacts on ecologically important land.”
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About NextGen Highways
NextGen Highways is a collaborative initiative promoting the use of highways and other existing rights-of-way as infrastructure corridors where electric and communications infrastructure are strategically and safely co-located in existing highway rights-of-way.