Invenergy says it is sending out this letter to its landowner victims. I'm guessing it's supposed to endear them to you? Instead, I think it demonstrates how little Invenergy knows about issues that matter to landowners. I wonder what kind of an ignoramus wrote that thing... and designed the new "landowners" page on their website? Sort of looks like someone who has never done this sort of thing before and doesn't want to learn. It's like some socially inept twit going door to door trying to sell you rubber baby buggy bumpers.
First off, Invenergy wants you to know that it bought the rotten GBE hot potato from Clean Line Energy Partners. Well, good for you! W.C. Fields would be proud! Does anyone really care to find out about Invenergy, or want to read more about Invenergy tooting its own horn about how great it is? Probably not. Landowners most likely don't care about the pedigree of an out-of-state company who wants to take their land using eminent domain. It's about the eminent domain, not how great Invenergy thinks it is. Nobody is likely to be impressed. I do like how Invenergy tries to toss Clean Line under the bus though, gushing about how it has no affiliation with Clean Line, as if all the problems with the project were the fault of Clean Line? How badly do you have to behave to have people consider you worse than Clean Line Energy Partners? If you thought Clean Line was bad, maybe you should hold onto you hat! It looks like it's fixing to get much worse. Silly Michael Skelly may look like a hero when this faceless company is done with you.
Invenergy offers this reassuring nugget:
First off, Invenergy wants you to know that it bought the rotten GBE hot potato from Clean Line Energy Partners. Well, good for you! W.C. Fields would be proud! Does anyone really care to find out about Invenergy, or want to read more about Invenergy tooting its own horn about how great it is? Probably not. Landowners most likely don't care about the pedigree of an out-of-state company who wants to take their land using eminent domain. It's about the eminent domain, not how great Invenergy thinks it is. Nobody is likely to be impressed. I do like how Invenergy tries to toss Clean Line under the bus though, gushing about how it has no affiliation with Clean Line, as if all the problems with the project were the fault of Clean Line? How badly do you have to behave to have people consider you worse than Clean Line Energy Partners? If you thought Clean Line was bad, maybe you should hold onto you hat! It looks like it's fixing to get much worse. Silly Michael Skelly may look like a hero when this faceless company is done with you.
Invenergy offers this reassuring nugget:
Please note that Grain Belt is seeking an easement – which is typical in linear infrastructure like electric lines and pipelines – and that you will retain full ownership of the land in the easement area.
Hey, great! You get to continue to own a strip of land that you've lost all control of. The only thing the owner gets is liability and tax burden... and of course a perpetual tenant they can't evict. Was this supposed to make the landowners feel good? It actually adds insult to injury. I'm thinking nobody wants to be Invenergy's landlord in perpetuity. Invenergy wants to take use of your land, but not the responsibility of ownership.
GBE/Contract Land Staff say they will be phoning you in the future to negotiate over land you don't want to sell. How many people answer the phone when their caller ID tells them it's some random cell phone caller from another area code? My new phone has a great feature button named "call block." If I don't like the looks of a caller, I simply press that button and they're gone for good. And even if I do mistakenly pick up the phone, there's no guarantee that I will be able to hear the caller clearly, phone service out in the boonies being what it is and all. So, watch your phones, folks! You'll soon have a new friend calling!
And then there's the blabber about how much Invenergy is going to help your community.... while taking from you personally. Why, you "could" have expanded broadband! Sure, you "could."
And speaking of could... GBE has been promising landowners for the past 10 years that the transmission tower structures "could" be monopoles. But, hey, guess what?
GBE/Contract Land Staff say they will be phoning you in the future to negotiate over land you don't want to sell. How many people answer the phone when their caller ID tells them it's some random cell phone caller from another area code? My new phone has a great feature button named "call block." If I don't like the looks of a caller, I simply press that button and they're gone for good. And even if I do mistakenly pick up the phone, there's no guarantee that I will be able to hear the caller clearly, phone service out in the boonies being what it is and all. So, watch your phones, folks! You'll soon have a new friend calling!
And then there's the blabber about how much Invenergy is going to help your community.... while taking from you personally. Why, you "could" have expanded broadband! Sure, you "could."
And speaking of could... GBE has been promising landowners for the past 10 years that the transmission tower structures "could" be monopoles. But, hey, guess what?
The structures will be lattice steel designs. All of them. Not a monopole to be had. Spare no expense for your comfort! Lattice structures are the cheapest ones to build. You didn't really believe all that Who Shot John about the monopoles, did you? Most landowners did not, so it's not really a disappointment. Landowners expected every promise made by Grain Belt Express to be broken. It's just one more.
I do feel bad for the Missouri PSC and the media though... they bought that 9 acres of land disturbed thing hook, line and sinker.
40x40=1,600 sq. ft. per tower. If for 200+ miles in Missouri need at least 4 towers per mile than 800 towers x 1,600 sq. ft. = 1,280,000 sq. ft divided by 43,560 sq. ft. per acre = 29.38 acres.
Is the PSC going to issue a revised press release on this? How about some breaking news stories? That number was always a fiction... as if only the base of the towers is disturbed for a transmission right of way stretching more than 725 miles across four states?*
Be sure not to miss the "example" easement map on the website. Because you mere farmers probably don't know how to look at a plat of your land without coaching from some land sharks from Texas and their know-it-all bosses in Chicago. This "example" shows a transmission right of way crossing the shortest side of a rectangular parcel in parallel to the parcel's border. Gosh, I sure hope Invenergy's straight line from Kansas to Indiana won't cross any parcels diagonally through the middle. Because that would make the example the exception, not the rule. Talk about using fiction to paint yourself in the best light possible... This is a ridiculous addition to the website. Whoever thought this up is a dolt. Especially because the "example" parcel shows some drainage being crossed. Hint: Don't use those kind of aerial photos... pretend the farmland drains by hidden magic!
Don't fear though, landowners, Invenergy will "minimize" its interference with your drain tile and repair any damage it does to an even better condition! Make sure any easement agreement you see guarantees that Invenergy will improve your drain tile. I'll believe it when I see it!
And don't fear having permanent roads laid down on your land. That only happens when there is no existing access to the right of way via public roads. It will be extremely RARE! Because every good farm field has public roads running through it already.
So, what's in it for you? Significant annual revenue for your county! You sacrifice your land and everyone in your county benefits from it. Oh, Invenergy, you sweet talker!
And how might you get paid? You'll get an amazing 20% of the value of your easement when you give it up. You can get the rest "prior to construction" (isn't the signing date prior to construction?) or you can be really silly and elect to get a fixed rate payment annually for the life of the easement. I wonder if you have to play a one-armed bandit to make this choice?
And if you have any questions not covered in Invenergy's generic letter or ridiculous website, who you gonna call? No, not Ghostbusters, although I would like to see a few land agents and well-fed corporate executives sucked up in the Ghost Trap. You're supposed to call Invenergy's land agent for advice. Worst advice, ever. Ask a lawyer... one not being paid by Invenergy. Invenergy land agents are representing Invenergy's interests here. They're not representing yours.
Remember, according to GBE's Code of Conduct, Invenergy must obtain your unequivocal permission before entering your land for any reason.
I do feel bad for the Missouri PSC and the media though... they bought that 9 acres of land disturbed thing hook, line and sinker.
40x40=1,600 sq. ft. per tower. If for 200+ miles in Missouri need at least 4 towers per mile than 800 towers x 1,600 sq. ft. = 1,280,000 sq. ft divided by 43,560 sq. ft. per acre = 29.38 acres.
Is the PSC going to issue a revised press release on this? How about some breaking news stories? That number was always a fiction... as if only the base of the towers is disturbed for a transmission right of way stretching more than 725 miles across four states?*
Be sure not to miss the "example" easement map on the website. Because you mere farmers probably don't know how to look at a plat of your land without coaching from some land sharks from Texas and their know-it-all bosses in Chicago. This "example" shows a transmission right of way crossing the shortest side of a rectangular parcel in parallel to the parcel's border. Gosh, I sure hope Invenergy's straight line from Kansas to Indiana won't cross any parcels diagonally through the middle. Because that would make the example the exception, not the rule. Talk about using fiction to paint yourself in the best light possible... This is a ridiculous addition to the website. Whoever thought this up is a dolt. Especially because the "example" parcel shows some drainage being crossed. Hint: Don't use those kind of aerial photos... pretend the farmland drains by hidden magic!
Don't fear though, landowners, Invenergy will "minimize" its interference with your drain tile and repair any damage it does to an even better condition! Make sure any easement agreement you see guarantees that Invenergy will improve your drain tile. I'll believe it when I see it!
And don't fear having permanent roads laid down on your land. That only happens when there is no existing access to the right of way via public roads. It will be extremely RARE! Because every good farm field has public roads running through it already.
So, what's in it for you? Significant annual revenue for your county! You sacrifice your land and everyone in your county benefits from it. Oh, Invenergy, you sweet talker!
And how might you get paid? You'll get an amazing 20% of the value of your easement when you give it up. You can get the rest "prior to construction" (isn't the signing date prior to construction?) or you can be really silly and elect to get a fixed rate payment annually for the life of the easement. I wonder if you have to play a one-armed bandit to make this choice?
And if you have any questions not covered in Invenergy's generic letter or ridiculous website, who you gonna call? No, not Ghostbusters, although I would like to see a few land agents and well-fed corporate executives sucked up in the Ghost Trap. You're supposed to call Invenergy's land agent for advice. Worst advice, ever. Ask a lawyer... one not being paid by Invenergy. Invenergy land agents are representing Invenergy's interests here. They're not representing yours.
Remember, according to GBE's Code of Conduct, Invenergy must obtain your unequivocal permission before entering your land for any reason.
*As if anyone believes this lie anymore. Get ready, folks, it's the next one to go.
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