Title 43, Public LandsRelease 119-102
§957 Right of Way to Electric Power Companies
Title 43 › CHAPTER 22 — RIGHTS-OF-WAY AND OTHER EASEMENTS IN PUBLIC LANDS › § 957
Summary
The Secretary of the Interior may allow a U.S. citizen or a group of U.S. citizens to use public lands and national forests to generate, make, or deliver electric power. Under rules the Secretary sets, they may be given up to 25 feet of right-of-way and as much as 40 acres of needed ground.
Full Legal Text
Title 43, §957
Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and empowered, under general regulations to be fixed by him, to permit the use of right of way to the extent of twenty-five feet, together with the use of necessary ground, not exceeding forty acres, upon the public lands and national forests of the United States by any citizen or association of citizens of the United States for the purposes of generating, manufacturing, or distributing electric power.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Codification The words “national forests” substituted in text for “forest reservations” pursuant to act Mar. 4, 1907, which changed the designation of forest reserves to national forests.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Repeal;
Savings Provision
Section repealed by Pub. L. 94–579, title VII, § 706(a), Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2793, effective on and after Oct. 21, 1976, insofar as applicable to the issuance of rights-of-way over, upon, under, and through the public lands and lands in the National Forest System. Such repeal not to be construed as terminating any valid lease, permit, patent, etc., existing on Oct. 21, 1976, see section 701 of Pub. L. 94–579, set out as a note under section 1701 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
43 U.S.C. § 957
Title 43, Public Lands
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102