Why Building Transmission Along Highways is Better for Birds

The USA is dealing with report progress of electrical energy utilization, however the system that delivers electrical energy to our houses is outdated, more and more unreliable, and at the moment can not help the enlargement of renewable power wanted to guard birds. Because the U.S. works to modernize and develop the getting old electrical grid, constructing new transmission traces alongside highways can pace up the transmission allowing course of whereas additionally minimizing dangers to birds and their habitats.

We’re making progress. By Audubon’s work with the NextGen Highways Coalition, we’ve helped go laws permitting transmission traces to be constructed alongside highways in Minnesota, Colorado, and most recently Iowa.

Audubon’s science reveals that many chicken species are in danger from local weather impacts, making renewable power and expanded transmission capability important to defending chicken populations over the long run. Our Birds and Transmission report explains that transmission traces are a crucial element of the electrical grid. These towering steel constructions assist transfer wind and photo voltaic power over lengthy distances from the place it’s generated to communities the place power is used.  

Using current corridors for brand spanking new transmission traces is mostly higher for birds than constructing on beforehand undeveloped land, referred to as “greenfields.” As a result of these rights-of-way have already been cleared and managed for infrastructure like highways and railways, they cut back the danger of further habitat loss and fragmentation. This strategy also can assist cut back siting conflicts involving environmental and cultural issues, native communities, personal landowners, and state and federal jurisdictional points.

Progress in Iowa

Iowa’s latest coverage change marks a major milestone for a state that already generates about two-thirds of its electricity from wind and different renewable power sources—effectively above the nationwide common. This new strategy positions Iowa to develop its grid whereas minimizing further impacts on wildlife habitat. Audubon employees performed a key position within the effort by serving to advance the coverage by way of Iowa Division of Transportation administrative rule updates and public remark intervals in 2025, and the legislative effort in 2026, which Governor Kim Reynolds signed into regulation in April.

Doug Harr, president of Iowa Audubon, underscored the significance of the shift, noting that “Accountable power planning is vital to defending Iowa’s birds and ecosystems in the long term.” For years Harr has represented Iowa Audubon on committees to enhance new transmission line areas, significantly to guard birds from line collisions. “As our state leads the way in which on renewables, this grid enlargement will assist ship that power to Iowans whereas minimizing habitat impacts.”

Momentum in Minnesota and Colorado

In 2024, Minnesota enacted legislation opening highways to co-location with high-voltage transmission, reversing a earlier prohibition by the Minnesota Division of Transportation (MnDOT).  Audubon employees had been intently concerned in drafting, lobbying for, and passing the laws, ensuring that chicken habitat was thought-about.

For the reason that Minnesota laws handed into regulation, the Minnesota Public Utilities Fee (MN PUC) has begun asking utilities to clarify how they’re contemplating freeway proper of the way, and the way they’re coordinating with MnDOT—an unimaginable shift in simply two years.

Additionally in 2024, the Colorado Electrical Transmission Authority (CETA) recognized the necessity for up to $4 billion in additional investment in transmission to make sure that the state’s energy grid can preserve tempo with demand. In response, Audubon labored as a part of the NextGen Highways Colorado coalition alongside power, transportation electrification, enterprise, and conservation pursuits to permit for extra coordinated and environment friendly planning between transportation officers and utilities. Ensuing from these efforts, the Colorado Division of Transportation is now an lively a part of the siting and allowing course of.

For Daly Edmunds, who represented Audubon within the Colorado coalition, co-locating alongside current transmission traces and freeway corridors is smart on so many ranges, particularly to attenuate habitat loss. “Having a regulation that prioritizes rights-of-way for transmission improvement, after current utility corridors however earlier than new corridors, is a significant win for conservation in Colorado,” she says. “Hopefully it will have ripple results to different states.”

The Street Forward

Efforts on this entrance proceed and Audubon has just lately joined NextGen Highways coalitions in Oregon and Washington. We additionally encourage co-location alongside current transmission traces and freeway corridors as a part of our collaborative work with challenge builders to make sure that transmission infrastructure is deliberate with birds and communities in thoughts. This consists of sharing science-based solutions for avoiding, minimizing, and offsetting potential impacts on birds and chicken habitat. Co-location is among the many useful methods that ought to be thought-about to be able to cut back prices and safeguard crucial chicken habitat.

Like these handed in Iowa, Minnesota, and Colorado, insurance policies on the state and federal stage can do extra to cut back limitations to co-location. States and the federal authorities could even go additional by permitting higher flexibility in using current freeway funding or creating particular incentives for well-sited transmission tasks co-located alongside freeway corridors. Audubon is dedicated to sitting on the desk for these necessary discussions because the U.S. more and more incorporates clear power to cut back carbon emissions and improve grid resiliency.