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Donna Brutkoski
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 15, 2026
Promoting a common-sense solution to help the Keystone State build the grid it needs cheaper and faster
Electricity prices in Pennsylvania are climbing fast, and the grid isn’t keeping up. New generation faces years-long waits to interconnect, while surging demand is straining communities across the Commonwealth. Today, a coalition of Pennsylvania stakeholders is launching to work toward a common-sense solution to the Keystone State’s power crunch: opening up the Commonwealth’s highway right-of-way (ROW) to the siting of transmission projects.
The coalition, convened by the NextGen Highways initiative, is pursuing legislative and policy solutions that would allow Pennsylvania to co-locate transmission lines in existing highway corridors, including along interstates. This practice could significantly streamline the siting and permitting process, meaning that transmission can be built as quickly and affordably as possible. That can help ensure a reliable grid for Pennsylvanians while protecting private property, farmland, and green space from unnecessary development.
“Pennsylvania ratepayers are feeling the squeeze of a power system that isn’t keeping pace with demand, and they need every practical tool available to build the transmission that will keep the grid reliable and affordable,” said Randy Satterfield, NextGen Highways’ executive director. “Opening highway right-of-way to transmission co-location is a straightforward way to help projects get built more quickly, at lower cost, and with less impact on communities and private landowners.”
Currently, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) places strict limits on the siting of transmission lines in the ROW of limited-access highways. Under this policy, PennDOT may only issue a highway occupancy permit for longitudinal installation of a utility corridor when no other alternative is available and the utility can comply with a range of other strict criteria. Co-locating utility infrastructure along existing highway infrastructure is a common-sense alternative – compared to costly eminent domain battles – that can speed the permitting process, reduce environmental impacts, keep project costs in-check and lessen the burden on private landowners.
Meeting the growing demand for electricity — driven by electrification, data centers, and economic expansion — will require significant new transmission investment at a moment when Pennsylvanians’ electric bills are rising faster than the rate of inflation, seeing the third-highest increase of any U.S. state over the past five years. Major electric utilities serving the state are planning billions of dollars in transmission investments, which provides a timely opportunity for policymakers to think about how this needed new grid infrastructure can be built faster and cheaper.
Policymakers in Harrisburg have already pinpointed co-location as a promising option. In June, Senators Kristin Phillips-Hill, Gene Yaw, and Lisa Boscola circulated a Senate Co-Sponsorship Memo to announce forthcoming legislation that would set clear siting criteria for new high-voltage transmission lines and standardize their co-location within PennDOT highway rights-of-way. And in August, Representative Paul Takac circulated a House Co-Sponsorship Memo on the same issue. These leaders understand the value of colocation in this unique moment. They plan to introduce legislation to remove outdated barriers to grid modernization while protecting the Commonwealth’s preserved farmland from eminent domain takings by utility companies building interstate transmission lines without first considering co-location as an option.
NextGen Highways’ work in Pennsylvania builds on policy successes the initiative has achieved in other states. Earlier this year, bills supported by NextGen Highways and its coalition partners were signed into law in Virginia and Iowa, following similar successes in Colorado and Minnesota, where legislation opening highway corridors to transmission became law in 2025 and 2024, respectively. In Wisconsin, where highway co-location has been allowed since the early 2000s, developers have worked with transportation officials to safely site hundreds of miles of high-voltage transmission in interstate right-of-way.
The Pennsylvania coalition’s current members represent energy, environmental, consumer, conservation, and other interests across the Commonwealth. Organizations seeking to join the effort and move forward common-sense transmission siting policy in Pennsylvania can visit nextgenhighways.org to learn more and inquire.
More from our coalition members:
Chris D’Agostino, Policy Principal, Advanced Energy United:
“Pennsylvania will need every electron it can get to serve an increasingly strained grid, reduce costs, and improve reliability for homes and businesses. Leveraging existing corridors for new transmission lines is an underutilized tool in the energy toolbox — and a low-hanging-fruit opportunity to expand grid capacity. A legislative push is critical to unlocking this potential.”
Jim Brown, Policy Director, Audubon Mid-Atlantic:
“Utilizing existing corridors for new transmission lines is a win for birds and the habitats they depend on. Co-locating critical infrastructure into fewer corridors will decrease the negative impacts of habitat fragmentation and deforestation, while building the responsibly sited grid that birds need. Audubon believes NextGen Highways in Pennsylvania will support the state’s energy infrastructure while reducing siting concerns for the Commonwealth’s landscapes, and the people and birds that depend on them.”
Jeff Mauk, Director of Eastern State Policy, Ceres:
“High-voltage power lines are essential infrastructure for keeping energy affordable in an era of rising demand, but they are extremely difficult to permit and build. Siting them along existing highway corridors offers a simple solution that will modernize the power grid to build the system we need for the future and help states bring more electricity to help businesses compete and grow the economy.”
Katie Blume, Political and Legislative Director, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania:
“With the rapid expansion of data centers in Pennsylvania, the General Assembly needs to explore technologies and methods to ensure all Pennsylvanians can receive reliable and affordable electric services. Siting new transmission lines next to highways provides an opportunity to increase the reliability of our grid while preserving the public lands and wildlife habitats that make our commonwealth special.”
Mike Geiselhart, Executive Director of Pennsylvania, Conservative Energy Network:
“Pennsylvania’s economic future depends on reliable, affordable power, but grid congestion and rising electricity bills are holding the Commonwealth back. Utilizing state highway corridors is a pragmatic solution that streamlines regulatory processes, respects private property rights by reducing the need for eminent domain, and delivers needed grid infrastructure faster and more affordably. The Conservative Energy Network is happy to join this coalition to support a common-sense approach that protects landowners, lowers costs for ratepayers, and strengthens Pennsylvania’s energy grid.”
Caroline Fletcher, State Affairs Manager, MAREC Action:
“Pennsylvania’s energy future depends on modernizing the electric grid. Making better use of existing highway corridors is a common-sense way to expand transmission, support grid reliability, and enable cost-effective energy buildout. Co-locating transmission infrastructure along rights-of-way can help accelerate projects while minimizing impacts on communities and private property. MAREC Action is proud to support policies that help build the energy infrastructure Pennsylvania needs.”
Clark Stephens, Senior Policy Advisor for North America Transmission, The Nature Conservancy:
“Meeting our clean energy goals will require significant new transmission infrastructure, but where and how we build it matters. By making smarter use of highways and other existing rights-of-way, we can help connect more clean energy to the grid while reducing impacts to wildlife habitat, communities and the lands we’ve worked so hard to protect. This coalition is an important step toward advancing practical policies that support a cleaner, more reliable and more affordable energy future.”
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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 corridors where electric and communications infrastructure can be strategically and safely co-located.