The transmission line and associated wind generation (collectively referred to as “Grain Belt Express” or “Grain Belt”) are projected to create significant cost savings for electricity ratepayers in Kansas and Missouri.

The OCA submits, however, that this market efficiency project designed to address economic congestion on the bulk electric grid cannot meet the constitutional, statutory, and regulatory standards under Pennsylvania law. Under the evidence presented, actual congestion on the AP South Reactive Interface has diminished precipitously in the years since this proceeding began, subverting any reason to construct this Project. Moreover, PJM’s benefit-cost analysis, which the Company relies upon to allege that this Project will provide sufficient benefits in excess of the costs, contains significant deficiencies such that it cannot support the necessary findings under Pennsylvania law. Most importantly, PJM’s benefit-cost analysis ignores the detrimental impacts of increased wholesale power prices that accrue to certain transmission zones as a result of constructing the IEC Project, including many transmission zones in Pennsylvania seeing increased costs for Pennsylvania ratepayers. In addition, PJM’s process for approving the IEC Project failed to consider reasonable alternatives and did not address the serious environmental and property issues raised.

... the Commission should not approve the IEC Project based upon the Company’s claims of potential reliability violations occurring in 2023 in the absence of the IEC Project. The Company’s belatedly filed evidence is based upon limited testing and outdated data. Moreover, the facilities that may experience these potential violations are aging facilities that are due for an upgrade in the coming years. Indeed, since 2018, several of the facilities that the Company claims will overload are undergoing rebuilds that may increase capacity. The OCA submits that if the IEC Project is not approved, PJM has the means to determine if these potential future reliability violations will still occur and find more efficient, targeted proposals to correct these issues.

... Pennsylvania would also be burdened by new transmission infrastructure construction in Franklin and York Counties, including a new substation and a new transmission line in Franklin County, 13.6 miles of which will be constructed over presently unencumbered land, and lengthy re-builds of additional transmission infrastructure and a new substation in York county. Accordingly, these economic and environmental harms demonstrate that the IEC Project fails to meet the constitutional, statutory, and regulatory standards under Pennsylvania law.

For the reasons set forth herein, the Commission should deny the Company’s Applications.

...I reached the same conclusions whether we look only at Pennsylvania or whether we look at PJM as a whole. Either way this project makes no sense. You don't spend 350 or $400 million so you can save $12 million over a 15-year period. It makes no sense. Q. Only under your cost-benefit analysis; is that right?
A. Under any logical view of what's happening. If you build this project, you can save utilities in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia almost a billion dollars over 15 years; and, if you don't build that project, that same power is going to be used in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and New Jersey at a cost of about $970 million.
So, yes, there is some congestion. There is a technical problem to be solved, and the value of that congestion as laid out in the most recent estimate we have is less than a million dollars a year over the next 15 years. So this project makes no sense. I don't care how you run the numbers or how you talk about it. Those are the latest numbers we have, and you can exclude them if you want to but that's reality.

"We're looking at working on transmission for gen-tie"

"... for some of our existing projects and then as stand alone projects recognizing that renewables are located often far from demand."

“Grain Belt is no longer involved with this business” (or possibly, that “Grain Belt is no longer involved with the business.”)

Based on statements made during those telephone conversations by the two CLS agents, Mr. Daniel was also led to believe that Grain Belt was no longer associated with the proposed transmission line project.

Every week you open your browser, scan the headlines, and see something to the effect of, “fossil fuels are out and clean energy is in”. The recent court decision upholding the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline and Dominion and Duke’s decision to abandon their Atlantic Coast pipeline project indicate a changing tide in how consumers and utilities view our energy future.

Most Americans want clean energy. People want electric vehicles and a cleaner environment. But, our policies on building the infrastructure to deliver this clean energy future have not caught up to public sentiment.

In June, the leading renewable energy trade associations made a goal to reach 50% renewable energy by 2030. Meanwhile, if elected, Joe Biden will push for a carbon-free power sector by 2035. Goals aside, the fact remains we need more transmission to move cheap wind and solar from more rural areas to load centers if we want to reach ambitious clean energy goals. We need a new wave of electron pipelines.

The Plains & Eastern transmission project exemplifies this problem. In 2009, Clean Line Energy Partners announced plans for a transmission line that would carry 4,000 MW of clean power from Oklahoma to load centers in the southeast and Mid-Atlantic. Years of navigating state and local regulations and gathering, then losing, federal support ensued.

By 2019, Clean Line had divested most of their transmission projects, including the Plains & Eastern Clean Line project, selling them off with the hopes someone else could overcome the endless regulatory and political battles associated with interstate transmission lines.

In addition to state input, there should be back-stop federal authority when transmission projects reach an impasse. The 2005 Federal Power Act attempted to give FERC this authority, but the rule framework was convoluted and limited in scope, leading to several court challenges. Through a clearer and more definitive act of Congress, FERC can serve as the final decision-maker when a transmission project cannot garner all permits from state and local authorities, or the permitting process is delayed beyond a year.
If the majority of a transmission line’s route has received proper permits, but a small portion has been denied or delayed by regulatory challenges, a transmission developer should be able to bring the case before FERC for final adjudication.

To address the aesthetic concerns of high voltage transmission lines, policy-makers can consider tax incentives or direct pay reimbursements for companies that bury their power lines near residences and towns or work with communities to design more aesthetically-pleasing structures.
To aid in the clean energy future, these incentives should only be available to power lines that predominately transfer renewable energy. This would allow transmission developers to accommodate the very real concerns of citizens and not break the bank.

Food is the key to a kitty's heart, however, the humans at Invenergy have underestimated the intellectual abilities of the average feline and the people who serve the cat kingdom.  We can read!  Where's the news stories?  Where's the colorful community advertising?  Where's the outdoor music festival where kitties and humans can cavort at a distance while enjoying music and speeches?  Where's the donations to food banks?  Where's the new parks being built for the communities?  Where's the cash donations to help the local schools with the added expense of distance learning?   Where's the catnip mice for the local animal shelter? There's plenty a "new owner" can do to win the hearts and minds of your average kitty.  Invenergy is failing to do anything to build trust with the communities in Missouri!  Without a pile of free ham, I simply cannot trust these people!
P.S.  That's not a grease stain.  My litter box needed changing.

Western Kansas and the surrounding area to customers in Missouri and other states in the region.

Meow!  Err... no.  I trust Invenergy about as much as I trust that smiling sadist at the veterinary clinic with the syrupy voice and greased fanny pole behind her back.

Taken together, these and other cases demonstrate that too many power and gas companies have sought to exercise undue influence over the governments that nominally control them. Utilities spend lavishly on campaign contributions, dinners, hunting trips for politicians and more. They set up fake citizens’ groups to support their undertakings. And they have been known to ply nonprofit community organizations with “donations” to take public stances that favor the utility — and against the real interests of the people these organizations ostensibly represent.