Agricultural impacts will also be reduced because no more than nine acres of land in Missouri will be taken out of agricultural production as a result of Project structures.

The Project is designed to have a minimal impact to land.  In Phase I for the HVDC Main Line approximately 9 acres will be taken out of agricultural production. For Phase I Tiger Connector approximately 0.2 acres will be taken out of agricultural production. And for the Phase II HVDC Main Line, approximately 7 acres will be taken out of agricultural production. 

There can be no debate that our energy future will require more diversity in energy resources, particularly renewable resources. We are witnessing a worldwide, long-term and comprehensive movement toward renewable energy. The energy on the Project provides great promise as a source for affordable, reliable, safe, and environmentally-friendly energy that will increase resiliency of the grid. The Project will facilitate this movement in Missouri, will thereby benefit Missouri citizens, and is, with the conditions set out below, in the public interest. 

Grain Belt has a viable plan for raising the capital necessary to finance the cost of constructing the Project on a project financing basis. Specifically, after advancing development and permitting activities to a status at which developers of wind and solar generation facilities and other potential customers of the transmission line are willing to enter into commercial agreements for an undivided interest (purchase or lease) or long-term contracts for transmission capacity on the Project, Grain Belt will enter such contracts with interested parties that satisfy necessary creditworthiness requirements. Grain Belt will then raise debt capital using the aforementioned contracts as security for the debt.


Grain Belt anticipates utilizing a combination of commercial and governmental sources of financing, and, at this time, is still evaluating all potential options for financing. Options for governmental sources of financing include the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Transmission Infrastructure Program (TIP); and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Transmission Facilitation Program; Department of Energy loans to non-federal borrowers for transmission facilities pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act and potentially other government funding options. Additional equity capital may also be raised to help finance construction of the Project, or Grain Belt’s existing investors may make additional equity investments in the Project.

Consistent with the Commission’s requirements for obtaining and maintaining negotiated rate authority, Grain Belt Express’s negotiated rates will continue to be just and reasonable. In the context of negotiated rates, the Commission considers whether the merchant transmission developer has assumed the full market risk for the cost of constructing its proposed project, and is not building within the footprint of the developer’s (or an affiliate’s) traditionally regulated transmission system. The Commission also considers whether the merchant transmission owner (or an affiliate) owns transmission facilities in the same region as the project, what alternatives customers have, and whether the merchant transmission owner is capable of erecting any barriers to entry among competitors, and whether the owner would have any incentive to withhold capacity.
Here, Grain Belt Express has assumed, and will continue to assume, the full market risk for the cost of constructing the Project. Grain Belt Express has no captive pool of customers from which it could recoup the cost of the Project. ​

“I think that sort of input that we got from the community and then also doing that modeling to show folks what it was going to look like when it’s constructed both helped along the project,” he said.

The commission observed that while many residents were still opposed to both the Garage Site and the Post Office Site, which is adjacent to the Victor Post Office on Route 60, they seemed more accepting of the Garage Site over the Post Office location.

PSC spokesperson Matthew Sweeney said the commission “has unique obligations and could have different interests and duties relating to transparency than former Commissioner Huebsch would have in his capacity as a private citizen,” which could have created a conflict of interest for PSC attorneys.

Huebsch, a former state legislator who served in Gov. Scott Walker’s cabinet before joining the PSC in 2015, says the messages were purely personal exchanges with old friends and that he never discussed PSC business outside of official proceedings.

Regardless of the results of the litigation the governmental unit, if it does not provide legal counsel to the defendant officer or employee, shall pay reasonable attorney fees and costs of defending the action, unless it is found by the court or jury that the defendant officer or employee did not act within the scope of employment.

The public service commission is authorized by s. 196.85, Stats., to charge any public utility, power district, or sewerage system the expenses attributable to the performance of the commission's duties.

Through his attorney, Huebsch blamed the plaintiffs for running up the tab on utility customers who will ultimately absorb the costs of defending the PSC’s decisions.

“The best outcome for ratepayers in Wisconsin and across the country would be for this unfounded ‘bias’ claim to be dismissed as soon as possible,” Huebsch said. “Every dime they have had to pay until now — including for the co-owners’ numerous law firms and PSC legal staff — is because of the plaintiffs and their choices.”

Huebsch said if the Supreme Court doesn’t throw out the bias claim, ratepayers will end up paying to litigate an “untold number of copycat ‘bias’ lawsuits.”

CMP Corridor Opponents Launch Citizens Initiative
Opponents of Central Maine Power's transmission corridor have filed an application with the Secretary of State to launch a statewide ballot initiative to stop the controversial project.
Tom Saviello , the citizen initiator of the effort, turned in bill language that would revoke the project's deeply unpopular permit approval from Maine's top energy regulator, the Public Utilities Commission. Revoking this permit, called a certificate of public convenience and necessity, would reflect the clear wishes of the majority of Mainers, who do not want the corridor to be built.
"CMP's corridor has drawn strong opposition from most Mainers," Saviello said. "Allowing Mainers to vote to block this project is only fair. We have to consider that nearly 25 towns have already voted to oppose the project, polling shows overwhelming opposition to the project, and CMP's awful scandals continue to get worse. Add to that the fact that Augusta has failed to listen to the clear voice of the people, and it's time for Mainers to take this matter into their own hands. We began the citizen's initiative process so this project will
get stopped in its tracks. Western Maine is too valuable to destroy."
Saviello is a former state representative and state senator from Franklin County, an area that would be heavily affected by CMP's corridor.
Sandi Howard, the director of Say NO to NECEC, will join Saviello in heading up the effort. Say NO to NECEC is a large grassroots organization that formed in opposition to the corridor.
"This corridor is bad for just about everyone," Howard said. "It's only good for a very select few. Augusta politicians and the state agencies who are supposed to protect Maine have failed, so we have to take this effort into our own hands. The citizen's initiative process is an enormous undertaking, but we have more than 20 thousand motivated Mainers who have signed up to help. They've called legislators, lobbied their elected officials, shown up at town meetings, and have even weighed in with Maine's energy and environmental regulators. The work they've done so far is already the broadest and most impressive exercise in direct democracy this state has seen in the modern era, and we know that Mainers are ready to get to work on this next step. We also know that CMP will use every legal trick, every lobbyist they can buy, and all of their influence in Augusta to push for their billion-dollar project, all while neglecting and overcharging their customers. This corridor is bad for Maine, and we don't trust CMP to build it."
The draft language will be considered by the Secretary of State's office in the coming days. Once the Secretary of State clears the language, corridor opponents will use their volunteer network to begin collecting petition signatures from Mainers. See draft language below.
An Act to Reject the New England Clean Energy Connect Transmission Project
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. Amend Order. Within 30 days of the effective date of this legislation and pursuant to its authority under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 1321, the Public Utilities Commission shall amend the “Order Granting Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and Approving Stipulation” entered by the Public Utilities Commission on May 3, 2019 in Docket No. 2017‑00232 for the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission project. The amended order shall find that the construction and operation of the NECEC transmission project is not in the public interest that there is not a public need for the NECEC transmission project. There not being a public need, the amended order shall deny the request for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the NECEC.

According to PSC records dating back to the 1970s, the commission has never rejected a utility application to build a transmission line.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead

The Missouri converter station will have bi-directional functionality, allowing Missouri utilities an additional means to earn revenue from off-system sales of up to 500 MW of excess power into the PJM energy markets.

The HVDC technology of the Project is the most cost-effective and efficient way to move large amounts of electric power over long distances and can transfer significantly more power with lower line losses over longer distances than comparable AV lines.

The Project is a participant-funded, “shipper pays” transmission line. Grain Belt would recover its capital costs by entering into voluntary, market-driven contracts with entities that want to become transmission customers of the Project.

Under FERC requirements, Grain Belt must broadly solicit interest in the Project, the rates negotiated must be just and reasonable and without undue discrimination or preference, and the service must not impair regional reliability and operational efficiency.
FERC has specifically found Grain Belt’s process to select customers and allocate capacity to be “not unduly discriminatory”.

The easement agreement limits the landowner’s legal rights and use of the easement property, including prohibiting any landowner activity that would interfere with Grain Belt’s use of the easement.

In 2021, MoPEP’s contract with Illinois Power Marketing Company providing 100 MW of coal energy and capacity to MoPEP will expire. MJMEUC’s agreements with Grain Belt and Iron Star would help MoPEP to replace the energy from Illinois Power Marketing Company with more affordable renewable energy.

The annual cost savings to MJMEUC member cities that participate in the Project will be dollar for dollar and will likely be passed through to their residential and industrial customers in the form of rate relief or invested in deferred maintenance to their electrical distribution systems.

Grain Belt has a transmission service agreement with an Illinois load-serving entity called Realgy, which has agreed to buy 25 MW of transmission service for delivery to Missouri and 25 MW to PJM.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has established aggressive and significant renewable energy goals, including: (1) to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, and (2) by 2025, to be supplied by 50 percent renewable energy. Additionally, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has set a science-based target to reduce emissions in its operations by 18 percent by 2025 through the deployment of energy efficiency and consumption of renewable energy.

Grain Belt currently has no employees.

Grain Belt has cash on hand, but not enough to complete either the development phase or construction of the Project.

Invenergy is not obligated to close on the Purchase Agreement unless (1) this Commission has approved the transaction proposed in the Purchase Agreement and has granted Grain Belt a certificate of convenience and necessity for the Project, and (2) the Kansas Corporation Commission has granted at least a 5 year extension of its certificate to Grain Belt and approved the change in ownership in the Purchase Agreement.

An interregional transmission line allows for low cost energy to be imported from a region with an excess of generation resources to a region with higher demand. The Grain Belt Project provides this benefit by moving wind power from Kansas (where there is an abundance of wind) into Missouri, MISO, and PJM, which will increase the supply of low- cost power in those markets.

Power prices in PJM are generally $10.00/MWh higher than prices that would be paid for the 500 MW of energy sold over the Project into the MISO market in Missouri. There is a very strong corporate demand for renewable energy in PJM, which contributes to Grain Belt being able to charge higher prices for that energy in PJM.

The wind industry will not need the federal production tax credit after 2023 because of continuing technology improvements.

The generation of electricity from wind energy results in no emissions, in contrast to traditional fossil fuel-fired generation. Grain Belt’s Project will provide an additional option for utilities to reduce their emissions of criteria air pollutants (e.g., sulfur dioxide), hazardous air pollutants (e.g., mercury), and carbon dioxide by purchasing cleaner renewable power for delivery on the transmission line in lieu of using existing or constructing new fossil fuel-fired generation assets.

The renewable energy delivered by the Project will reduce emissions in the Eastern Interconnection by displacing thermal generation, which emits sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide, and will decrease water usage, all to the benefit Missouri’s environmental and public health.

The Project would have a substantial and favorable effect on the reliability of electric service in Missouri.

Approximately $14.97 million in easement payments will be made in the first year of Project operation.

Grain Belt developed the Missouri Landowner Protocol as part of its approach to right-of-way acquisition for the Project.

Grain Belt’s compensation package is superior to that of most utility companies.

If Grain Belt obtains an easement from a landowner, the property will still belong to the landowner and can be utilized for activities such as farming, recreation, and other activities that do not interfere with the operation of the transmission line. After construction of the facilities, the landowner will retain the ability to continue agricultural production on the entirety of the easement area except for the relatively small footprint of the structures, which typically occupy less than 1% of the total easement area.

If Grain Belt and a landowner have reached agreement on the form of easement but are unable to reach agreement on the appropriate compensation, then at the landowner’s request, Grain Belt will submit the issue of landowner compensation to binding arbitration under Missouri law. The option of binding arbitration typically costs less, has more simplified procedures, and results in a final decision more quickly than circuit court litigation.

Out of the 206 miles that the Project will traverse in Missouri, no more than nine acres of land would be taken out of agricultural production as a result of the structures installed for the Project in cultivated lands.

Grain Belt has created the Missouri Agricultural Impact Mitigation Protocol, which establishes standards and policies to avoid, minimize, or mitigate any negative agricultural impacts that may result due to transmission line and converter facilities construction and operation.

Grain Belt witness Richard J. Roddewig testified credibly that based on published research and Mr. Roddewig’s own research, transmission lines do not have a significant adverse impact on farmland prices and values.

The scientific weight of evidence does not support the conclusion that electric and magnetic fields cause any long-term adverse health effects, and the levels of electric and magnetic fields associated with the Project do not pose any known risk to human health.

Missouri courts have stated that for a company to qualify as a public utility, the company must be devoted to a public use for the general public. The evidence showed that when the Project is constructed and begins operation, it will transmit energy from wind farms in Kansas to wholesale customers in Missouri. In the case of MJMEUC, those customers are Missouri cities and towns that serve as electric providers to approximately 347,000 Missouri citizens. The hallmark of a public utility is the offering of utility service to the public without discrimination. Grain Belt will offer indiscriminate transmission service through an open access transmission tariff that will be filed and subject to the jurisdiction of FERC. While the Commission only has authority over facilities that are devoted to public use, an entity that constructs and operates a transmission line bringing electrical energy from electrical power generators to public utilities that serve consumers is a necessary and important link in the distribution of electricity and qualifies as a public utility. The Commission concludes that Grain Belt’s Project will serve the public use, and Grain Belt qualifies as a public utility.

Mission Statement
We will:

• ensure that Missourians receive safe and reliable utility services at just, reasonable and affordable rates;
• support economic development through either traditional rate of return regulation or competition, as required by law;
• establish standards so that competition will maintain or improve the quality of services provided to Missourians;
• provide the public the information they need to make educated utility choices;
• provide an efficient regulatory process that is responsive to all parties, and perform our duties ethically and professionally.

The Commission granted a CCN to Grain Belt determining: 1) there is a need for the service; 2) Grain Belt is qualified to provide the proposed service; 3) Grain Belt has the financial ability to provide the proposed service; 4) Grain Belt’s proposal is economically feasible; and 5) the service promotes the public interest.

The Commission stated the evidence in the case demonstrated that the Grain Belt project will create both short-term and long-term benefits to ratepayers and citizens of the state. In addition, the project would have a substantial and favorable effect on the reliability of electric service in Missouri.

There can be no debate that our energy future will require more diversity in energy resources, particularly renewable resources,” said the Commission. “We are witnessing a worldwide, long-term and comprehensive movement towards renewable energy in general and wind energy specifically. Wind energy provides great promise as a source for affordable, reliable, safe and environmentally-friendly energy. The Grain Belt Project will facilitate this movement in Missouri, will thereby benefit Missouri citizens, and is, therefore, in the public interest.”

The Commission noted that any negative impacts of the project on the land and landowners will be mitigated by: 1) a landowner protocol to protect landowners; 2) superior compensation payments; 3) a binding arbitration option for easement negotiations; 4) a decommissioning fund-a fund for this type of project would be the first of its kind in the country; and 5) an agricultural impact mitigation protocol to avoid or minimize negative agricultural impacts. Agricultural impacts will also be reduced because no more than nine acres of land in Missouri will be taken out of agricultural production as a result of project structures, and the proposed route does not directly impact the operation of any existing center pivot irrigation systems.

“Many of the landowners’ concerns will be addressed through carefully considered conditions placed on the CCN,” said the Commission.

“Underground is about 10 times more expensive than overhead,” said Malashenko, who is the PUC safety and enforcement division director. “If we were to underground (throughout) California, all our rates would go up ten times.”