PSC approves JETx transmission line route through Stutsman County

The North Dakota Public Service Commission has approved the JETx transmission line route through Stutsman County, clearing a key hurdle for a 92-mile, 345-kV project that will run with 150-foot towers across Dickey, LaMoure and Stutsman counties. The decision moves the Jamestown to Ellendale Transmission Project out of the siting fight and into the harder local work of easements, access, road use and construction planning.

Otter Tail Power Company and Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. filed the joint application on Aug. 8, 2025, seeking a certificate of corridor compatibility and a route permit in PSC case No. PU-25-236. PSC records describe the line as a double-circuit-capable 345-kV electric transmission facility and associated facilities, a scale that puts it in the regional grid category rather than the local distribution system. The project is intended, the developers say, to provide reliable, cost-effective electricity for farms, businesses and communities.

For Stutsman County landowners, the approval does not end the property issues that have dominated the project. The route now has regulatory backing, but the practical questions remain on the ground: where towers will sit, how crews will enter fields, which county roads will carry construction traffic and what agreements will be needed for temporary or permanent access. InForum’s coverage said the route permit includes conditions for dust mitigation and road use agreements for affected landowners and farmers.

Those concerns helped drive the long public review. The PSC scheduled three public hearings in January 2026, and case materials include open-house documents, cultural resource work, wildlife reports and a winter construction plan. Those filings show the route was evaluated not just as an energy line but as a land-use project with effects on farms, drainage, township roads and nearby property owners.

The dispute has also spilled into court. On June 23, 2026, the North Dakota Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a related challenge brought by landowners and townships, while KXNET reported that many landowners were unhappy about the PSC approval. An InForum report said landowners from three counties argued they were not properly notified about the proposed line.

The project’s backers frame JETx as part of a larger grid buildout tied to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator system and to long-term power needs in eastern North Dakota. A North Dakota State University economic impact report completed in August 2024 also treated the Jamestown-Ellendale line as an economic development issue, underscoring the tradeoff now facing Stutsman County: more transmission capacity and construction activity, against a line that will cross working land and remain visible for decades.