Photo Credit: Frank Kloucek for PUC
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO.com) – Public Utilities Commission candidate Frank Kloucek is urging U.S. Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds to oppose federal permitting changes he says would weaken South Dakota landowners’ rights. S. 5653, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, would restrict court challenges and expand federal authority over transmission projects.
It also would allow energy developers who win certain lawsuits against the federal government to collect large taxpayer-funded awards.
“Senator Thune leads the Senate and sets its agenda,” Kloucek said. “He should hold this legislation until Congress protects the people whose land sits in its path.”The Senate’s Nov. 9 vote marks the first procedural step toward taking up the permitting package. It requires 60 votes and would not pass the bill.
Kloucek said he attended a PUC public input meeting in Brookings where Commissioner Chris Nelson urged those present to contact Thune and Rounds and ask them to vote against the bill.
At a renewable-energy conference in Sioux Falls this summer, Kloucek said, he asked speakers whether streamlining property acquisition would weaken landowners’ rights.
“I heard the phrase ‘streamline the acquisition of property,’” Kloucek said. “That property belongs to somebody. The people who own it deserve to know what rights Congress is asking them to give up.” Section 1402 covers 46 types of energy projects, including wind, solar, carbon dioxide pipelines, and underground carbon storage. Developers who prove that an intentional pattern of disparate treatment by the federal government caused improper permit denials or qualifying delays could collect damages equal to 50 to 100 percent of a project’s reasonably expected construction cost.
The Treasury’s Judgment Fund would pay those awards. Developers would have to demonstrate the financial and technical ability to build the project.
After obtaining necessary federal permits, they generally would have to complete it or repay the award.
Section 1401 gives developers a second path. Developers who win lawsuits over improper federal interference with a permitted project could collect an additional 25 to 50 percent of incurred costs not already recovered under the section’s attorney-fee and delay-cost provisions.
Those awards also would come from the Judgment Fund.
“That puts taxpayers on the hook for potentially enormous payments to developers,” Kloucek said. “Thune and Rounds need to explain why Congress should create that liability while making it harder for landowners to challenge a faulty review.”
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