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Fred Stafford (@fredstaffordcs) argues federal transmission is being pitched as a…

Brief

Fred Stafford argues federal transmission is being framed as a backstop for private, for‑profit wind and solar developers, not public infrastructure, which limits local support to landowners receiving lease payments and alienates neighbors. He published Part 1 of a two‑part essay on Breakthrough Journal on 2026-08-04; Part 2 will propose public‑power solutions.

Why it matters

Fred Stafford (@fredstaffordcs) argues federal transmission is being pitched as a backstop to build the network that will deliver energy from private, for‑profit wind and solar projects rather than as public infrastructure.

Key details

  • Stafford claims local buy‑in concentrates in the 'lucky' landowners who collect annual lease payments, producing bitterness among neighbors who 'lose out.'
  • Stafford posted Part 1 of a two‑part essay (The Public Power Anchor / Abundance Transmission Without Stealth Deregulation) on Breakthrough Journal on 2026-08-04; Part 1 is a critique and history of public power, Part 2 will offer a proposal.
Source evidence

The trouble with a lot of transmission advocacy:

"Federal transmission is pitched as a backstop to build the network that will deliver energy from such private, for-profit renewables projects. These generators aren’t public infrastructure projects that bear commemorative plaques or employ generations of workers, the kind that earns buy-in from locals. Instead, they’re hypothetical agglomerations of faceless, peopleless wind and solar farms that myriad competing private developers created. Local buy-in concentrates in the lucky landowners who will collect annual lease payments and creates bitterness in all their neighbors who lose out."👇

Fred Stafford (@fredstaffordcs)

On Friday @TheBTI posted the first of my new two-part essay on public power and transmission expansion. Part 1 is critique and a highlight of what worked historically with public power. Part 2 puts it together into a proposal. Here’s a 🧵 for the first. 1/ breakthroughjournal.org/p/th…

Link

The Public Power Anchor

Abundance Transmission Without Stealth Deregulation, an Essay in 2 Parts
breakthroughjournal.org

— https://nitter.net/fredstaffordcs/status/2084282235356667985#m