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One segment stands out – a 31-mile line from Wanapum Dam to Quincy, which the utility calls the “biggest and most important” part of the project. It’s also the most controversial, cutting across 112 parcels of land, including 34 homes. The utility says it expects construction to begin in 2028 and the transmission line to deliver power by 2029. But that could be delayed as homeowners and farmers along the line fight back against what they call a land grab.

‘My land is being stolen’
If Grant County PUD gets its way, it will build transmission lines over Quintero’s front yard that will be twice as tall as the existing distribution lines that go over it. The transmission lines would sit on 100-foot-tall thick, steel poles, carrying enough electricity to produce an audible crackle. Quintero’s mother, Maria Ruesga, sat by the grill watching her daughter cook. The 75-year-old has a pacemaker, an electronic device implanted to help regulate her heart. Although studies have generally not found electromagnetic currents from transmission lines to impact modern pacemakers, Ruesga said she worries about her health. Felicitas’ husband, Ismael Quintero, said he’s frustrated his family is paying the price to serve power for data centers, which he says keep gobbling up the region’s resources. “They’re taking the water, they’re taking electricity,” Ismael said, referring to what’s used to cool and power data centers. “Now, they’re taking our land,” said his daughter, Deisy Quintero. Some of the family’s neighbors whose farmland is being targeted say the lines would interfere with their circle irrigation systems and reduce the amount of land they’re able to farm.
Darrin Reynolds, a corn and alfalfa farmer who has worked his plot in Grant County for decades, said the lines would prevent him from using an electric fence enclosure to graze his cattle and endanger the lives of the airplane pilots who spray fertilizers and chemicals on his crops. And he said his daughter and her husband canceled their plans to build a house on the farm because they didn’t want to raise their children next to a high-voltage power line. “I’m pissed off about it,” Reynolds said. “My land is being stolen for the benefit of these data centers.”

Speed
Grant County PUD had ways to reduce the number of homeowners affected, but the utility prioritized speed. The PUD considered four other routes to add a line between Wanapum Dam and Quincy. Two would have affected fewer than 10 homes. The utility chose one that went through 34 private residences, the most of all the options. Since it was chosen, costs for the route have ballooned – from $40 million to $86 million – due to materials inflation and needing to rebuild existing power lines along the route, the utility said.
In a legal declaration justifying the condemnation of property, Grant County PUD Senior Vice President Jeff Grizzel stated that while other routes affected fewer homes, they would have required more permitting and environmental mitigation to go through state and federal lands. Bypassing that would allow it to start selling power sooner, and for each month the line was in service, Grizzel said the utility stood to receive “hundreds of thousands to potentially millions of dollars,” benefiting local farmers and residents.
But the Quinteros may only see a tiny fraction. To use a third of an acre of their front lawn, Grant County PUD has offered a one-time payment of $2,415 – 25% of the fair market value. “It’s just ridiculous. It’s kind of offensive,” Felicitas Quintero said. “How come, if they’re going to get millions, they’re giving property owners such a ridiculous amount?”
The utility said it’s paying a fraction of the land’s fair market value because it isn’t taking full ownership; it’s taking an easement, which grants the utility permission to access and use a portion forever. Landowners can still use their property under the lines, although they are limited in what they can place there.
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