And just like that, the U.S. Department of Energy is no longer "participating" in the Plains & Eastern Clean Line. The DOE announced today:
As of March 23rd, 2018 DOE and Clean Line Energy Partners have mutually agreed to terminate their Participation Agreement as well as DOE’s participation in the Project. NextEra Energy Resources has acquired Plains and Eastern Clean Line Oklahoma LLC and all of the assets for the transmission project in Oklahoma. DOE remains committed to an ‘all of the above’ energy strategy, improving our Nation’s electricity infrastructure, and increasing the reliability and resiliency of the electrical grid.
A link to the actual termination agreement has been lost somewhere in the halls of DOE. It is suspected that an energy industry lobbyist found it lying around and is holding it hostage.
UPDATE: Look what finally turned up... it's the termination agreement. And what a beautiful thing it is! Of course, it's written in legalese but there are a couple of interesting things in here.
1. Clean Line will continue to pay all DOE's expenses related to this whole debacle. DOE has a bunch of money it's holding to cover expenses, called an Advance Funding Account. This account has existed all along and is standard operating procedure for government participation in transmission company proposals. Now it's time for the DOE to get all its expenses together and cash out. Anything remaining in the account one year from now will be refunded directly to Clean Line's bank account as listed in the agreement. Aren't we all instructed time and again not to make our bank information public or give it to someone who doesn't need it? I guess these folks missed that instruction.
2. "None of the Clean Line Parties, any of their affiliates nor any of their respective representatives may issue any press release or make any other public statement directly or indirectly relating to DOE’s participation in the Project, this Agreement, and DOE’s involvement in the transaction contemplated thereby without DOE’s prior written consent (other than information that is generally available to the public and background or summary information of a general nature)." I guess this will prevent Clean Line from making crap up and telling the media how to think about DOE's participation in the project. Because making crap up in order to feed Skelly's insatiable ego seems to be the knee jerk reaction here. I guess DOE knows who they're dealing with by now.
And that's all folks -- the DOE "participation" in the Plains & Eastern Clean Line has ended. No more threats of federal eminent domain. Any future iterations of this or any other project must be approved by the states. In Arkansas, the law prevents the Public Service Commission from ever approving and permitting a merchant transmission project such as Clean Line. Plains and Eastern is officially dead and the DOE's use of Section 1222 of the Energy Policy Act is a gigantic failure, a colossal waste of time and money.
Meanwhile, it's time to celebrate!
UPDATE: Look what finally turned up... it's the termination agreement. And what a beautiful thing it is! Of course, it's written in legalese but there are a couple of interesting things in here.
1. Clean Line will continue to pay all DOE's expenses related to this whole debacle. DOE has a bunch of money it's holding to cover expenses, called an Advance Funding Account. This account has existed all along and is standard operating procedure for government participation in transmission company proposals. Now it's time for the DOE to get all its expenses together and cash out. Anything remaining in the account one year from now will be refunded directly to Clean Line's bank account as listed in the agreement. Aren't we all instructed time and again not to make our bank information public or give it to someone who doesn't need it? I guess these folks missed that instruction.
2. "None of the Clean Line Parties, any of their affiliates nor any of their respective representatives may issue any press release or make any other public statement directly or indirectly relating to DOE’s participation in the Project, this Agreement, and DOE’s involvement in the transaction contemplated thereby without DOE’s prior written consent (other than information that is generally available to the public and background or summary information of a general nature)." I guess this will prevent Clean Line from making crap up and telling the media how to think about DOE's participation in the project. Because making crap up in order to feed Skelly's insatiable ego seems to be the knee jerk reaction here. I guess DOE knows who they're dealing with by now.
And that's all folks -- the DOE "participation" in the Plains & Eastern Clean Line has ended. No more threats of federal eminent domain. Any future iterations of this or any other project must be approved by the states. In Arkansas, the law prevents the Public Service Commission from ever approving and permitting a merchant transmission project such as Clean Line. Plains and Eastern is officially dead and the DOE's use of Section 1222 of the Energy Policy Act is a gigantic failure, a colossal waste of time and money.
Meanwhile, it's time to celebrate!
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