Landowners challenge notice for Jamestown-Ellendale transmission line in court

The Jamestown-to-Ellendale transmission line, or JETx, would be a 345-kilovolt line about 90 to 92 miles long, jointly built, owned and operated by Otter Tail Power Company and Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. Landowners from Stutsman, LaMoure and Dickey counties are asking the North Dakota Supreme Court to overturn the notice process behind the line. They argue the utilities used the wrong statute and cut townships out of the decision on whether the project was needed at all.

The route would cross south-central North Dakota through Dickey, LaMoure and Stutsman counties, with towers as tall as 150 feet.

The case turns on how the North Dakota Public Service Commission handled the project’s certificate of public convenience and necessity. The commission approved that certificate in November 2024, but the route permit still must be granted before construction can move forward. Opponents argue the utilities filed under the wrong law for the certificate request, which they say meant townships and residents did not get direct notice and could not weigh in on the question of need before regulators treated that need as settled.

The utilities reject that reading, saying the two-step permitting process is standard. The certificate stage and the route stage serve different purposes, and following the usual sequence is not a way to avoid scrutiny.

In January 2026, Otter Tail Power and Montana-Dakota Utilities asked regulators to find that setback rules adopted by Homer Township and Corwin Township in Stutsman County, and Willowbank Township in LaMoure County, were overly restrictive. Those townships had adopted 2,640-foot setbacks, which the companies said could effectively block a route through the area.

Homer and Corwin townships sit along the path where the line could run near farms, roads and local infrastructure around Jamestown. The companies have said the project is needed to improve grid reliability after storms forced power curtailments in the Jamestown area, while landowners say the process should have given townships a clearer chance to challenge that need before it was locked in.

A 2025 North Dakota law, effective Aug. 1, says state zoning rules can supersede local ordinances for transmission lines, and the JETx project was referenced in testimony on that bill. Oral arguments in the Supreme Court were held April 2, 2026, and additional briefs were due at the end of April. As of June 24, the appeal remained before the court, while the final route permit was still pending at the PSC.