What’s on the Line: Howard–Solstice and the Texas Hill Country
- Terra Advocati
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
Almost every Texan carries a fond memory of the Hill Country.
For some, it’s swimming in a clear river on a hot summer day. For others, it’s a drive along winding roads lined with live oaks and limestone bluffs, or a quiet morning watching deer graze in the distance. The Hill Country is not just a place on a map. It is part of Texas’s shared identity, tied deeply to water, land, and the rhythms of nature that sustain both.
Today, that landscape faces a serious and largely avoidable threat that isn't yet set in stone.
The time to act is now!
What Is the Howard–Solstice Transmission Line Project?
The Howard–Solstice transmission line is a proposed 765 kilovolt high voltage transmission project planned to cross large portions of Texas from San Antonio to Fort Stockton, including parts of the Hill Country. As currently proposed, routing options could carry this infrastructure through sensitive headwaters, river basins, and groundwater contributing zones that feed the Edwards and Trinity aquifers.
While reliable electric infrastructure is important, where it is built matters. In Terra Advocati’s view, routing this project through the Hill Country places irreplaceable water systems at unnecessary risk, despite safer alternatives that follow existing corridors across flatter landscapes to the south.
Why the Hill Country Is Not the Best Route
The Texas Hill Country is a water producing landscape, and water is life!
Thin soils over fractured limestone allow rainfall to move quickly underground, recharging aquifers, feeding springs, and sustaining rivers far beyond the region itself.
Gunnar Brune, Springs of Texas, volume 1. Forth Worth, Tex., Branch-Smith, Inc., 1981.
These headwaters support wildlife, communities, agriculture, cities and economies across Central and South Texas.
Once disrupted, these systems do not easily recover. Grading, clearing, compaction, and long term right of way restrictions can permanently alter how water moves across and through the land, and easement regulations can make it impossible to regenerate. At a time of drought, declining spring flows, and record low lake levels, we cannot afford to further limit the land’s ability to recharge groundwater and sustain rivers.
Wildfire and Watershed Risks
Routing high voltage transmission lines through rugged Hill Country terrain also brings elevated wildfire risk. Drought stressed vegetation, dense Ashe juniper, steep slopes, and limited emergency access create conditions where a single failure or ignition event can escalate rapidly.
Wildfire degrades soils, damages watersheds, and permanently reduces the land’s ability to absorb and store water. Together, wildfire and watershed disruption threaten long term water security, outdoor recreation, rural livelihoods, and the landscapes we treasure.
A Better Path Forward Exists
There are alternatives. Routing this project along existing transportation and utility corridors near Highway 90, would significantly reduce wildfire risk, avoid sensitive headwaters, and limit long term impacts to water resources. This is not anti infrastructure. It is responsible planning that recognizes the unique value of the Texas Hill Country.
How You Can Make Your Voice Heard
Today, Terra Advocati has submitted a formal letter and brief to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT). You can download those below.
The most effective way to participate is by submitting comments directly to the Public Utility Commission of Texas PUCT, and Join the Hill Country Preservation Coalition to receive updates on this issue. . The Hill Country Preservation Coalition has prepared a clear, step by step guide explaining exactly how to submit your comments or a letter so they become part of the official record.
We ask for you to please make your voice heard by clicking here. It takes less that 10 minutes.