Utility companies who are building Texas' $5-billion renewable-energy transmission network have rejected help from the federal government. The decision was made last month during a meeting of the Public Utility Commission in Austin.

State regulators and company officials from the utilities that are working on the project agreed that stimulus funds came with regulations that could slow construction. The federal government had made $750-million in loan guarantees available to the project as part of the federal stimulus bill passed earlier this year.