Silly Cities Getting Desperate

The more desperate someone becomes, the further their arguments stray from the truth.  When the truth isn't working, the message gets embellished.

You'd think all Missourians were head over heels for Grain Belt Express after reading this.

...a project that will benefit so many small rural communities and save Missourians millions of dollars...

It's also a project that will destroy so many family farms and the rural economies they support.  Lower yields and higher costs to farm mean less income for farmers.  Less income for farmers equals less they have to put back into the agricultural economy in their own communities.  Not every rural community would "benefit" equally.

And let's talk about all those amazing savings, shall we?

Missourians do not like living paycheck to paycheck paying high utility bills and soon many won’t have to. The Grain Belt Express Transmission Line will lower the cost of utility bills to dozens of communities throughout the state.

Oh, c'mon!  This guy has no idea what it's like living paycheck to paycheck if he thinks that saving the price of a cup of coffee on your monthly electric bill will lift you into economic prosperity.  I think maybe he's spreading it on a little thick.

What are the savings?  And how accurate are they anymore?  How much is waiting around for GBE to be built costing municipal electricity customers?  The amazing savings claim is overblown.

I'm guessing this fella hasn't looked at the MJMEUC contract, or GBE's filings at the PSC.

In Missouri, the line will span eight counties delivering at least 500 megawatts of low-cost energy (and probably much more). 

GBE said it would make available 500 MW, a very small percentage of its 3,500 MW capacity.  MJMEUC only agreed to purchase up to 200 MW of the 500 offered.  The other 300 MW is going stale on the shelf because no one in Missouri wants to buy it.  Get it?  There's no need for GBE in Missouri!  If it was needed, there would be buyers willing to pay for it.

And then there's all the jobs blather.  I'm sorry, but creating jobs is not a "public use" granted eminent domain authority.  No one's right to have a job trumps another's right to own and enjoy property.

We're currently experiencing a booming economy.  Unemployment is at record lows.  Justifying the use of eminent domain for some jacked up number of temporary jobs for workers from other areas completely falls flat.

But this... this is the ultimate piece of work...

In recent years, special interest groups have gathered in Jefferson City with the goal of preventing the project from moving forward. This legislative session, these special interest groups are at it once again, introducing legislation to block the project and hinder Missourians in rural communities, suburbs, and across our state.

Is your land a "special interest?"  Calling landowners, voters, citizens, engaged in a grassroots effort to protect their homes, businesses, and way of life "special interest groups" is the ultimate insult.  These are honest, hardworking people defending the taking of what's theirs from out-of-state "special interest group" Invenergy, who is seeking to make money from the taking.  The only "special interest groups" here are Invenergy, and a handful of municipalities who have bellied up to the buffet to gorge themselves on the loss of others.  (Except, hey, check the menu... it's really just granola bars and water, not the feast they promised you.)

I think it's Grain Belt Express that is "hindering Missourians in rural communities" across the state.  Landowners have been held in limbo for a decade while first Clean Line bumbled its way through years of unsuccessful permitting, and now Invenergy comes after them, even though it doesn't have enough customers to make the project economically feasible.  How many sleepless nights will the landowners endure while out-of-state corporations play their corporate money-making games?  How much of the landowners' hard-earned income is being siphoned away in an effort to protect their rights?  Landowners didn't ask for this, and to continue to hold them hostage while Invenergy plays energy games is shameful.  Let Invenergy play its games in a free market where no one is held hostage!  Invenergy could build its project underground, on existing rights-of-way, and not bother anyone, but it doesn't want to.  It must believe Missouri is its doormat, as much as the author of this op ed seems to.

When other Clean Line projects were defeated, better projects emerged.  Buried transmission on existing rights-of-way is really happening!  If this guy really cared about Missouri, he'd drop GBE like a hot potato and look to the future where a project that does no harm will emerge.

Is this guy convincing anyone with his pie-in-the sky, exaggerated claims of how wonderful GBE would be for Missouri?

Not me.

But, hey, there's one point where I can agree with him!

I encourage everyone who wants to see their family and neighbors benefit from this project to contact your legislator. As a constituent, taxpayer, and Missourian, your voice matters.

The only way anyone is going to benefit from this project is by leaving it in the dust and moving on to better ideas.  Contact your Senators, because your voice matters!  A quick email or phone call is all it takes!  Do it today!