Condescending Ivy Leaguers who thought they were the smartest people in the room...

That's how Arkansan Julie Morton described the leadership of Clean Line Energy Partners.  And she hit it spot on.

It's about time someone burst Russell Gold's fantasy bubble and told the truth.  Telling the truth in inspired fashion has always been Julie's strong suit, and she doesn't mince words in this critique of Gold's inapt telling of the Plains & Eastern Clean Line story.

Say what?  There's a book about that?  Yes, but don't waste your money.  It's 15-minutes is about up and you'll soon find this "treasure" in used book sales, bargain bins, and holding the door open at bookstores all over the place.  Not worth any notice, and I haven't wasted my time with it.

Says Morton:

But to her, Skelly’s no hero and Clean Line was never a good idea.

“I didn’t object to how I was presented in the book,” Morton told Arkansas Business. “The opposition was all about the land [and landowners’ right to challenge eminent domain]. But I do have trouble with the second half, and I’m not even sure it should be called nonfiction.”

The author fell victim to what Morton calls the “Skelly spin,” in which Clean Line’s representatives are kind and caring, eager to help landowners, she said. “They must have been Jekyll and Hyde, because they were actually condescending Ivy Leaguers who thought they were the smartest people in the room.”

“So many people in our grassroots movement called legislators,” Morton said. “So many that they asked us to stop calling. That made a difference, and our delegation made a difference. They’re made into villains in the book, but actually, for once, they listened to the people, not the billionaires, and did their job.”

“I told Mr. Gold that this outdated technology, lines on 20-story-tall steel towers, is no longer viable.” She champions the approach of SOO Green Renewable Rail, which plans to ship Midwest wind energy to Eastern markets via underground transmission lines buried along existing railroad tracks. “This would cut out permitting issues and give you just one owner to deal with, and you wouldn’t be putting huge towers across 8,000 acres of our beautiful state.”

And that's all you need to know about that.