It's been almost 5 years since The Kansas Corporation Commission issued a permit for Grain Belt Express over the objections of landowners. Maybe a lot of folks have forgotten, since Clean Line has done nothing with its permit since the day it got it. Maybe it's hanging on the wall in the Firehouse, yellowing and curling around the edges. After all, it's one of just a few Clean Line ever received (and even fewer it still possesses!). But landowners in Kansas have not forgotten.
The KCC placed several conditions on the permit it issued to Grain Belt Express:
The KCC placed several conditions on the permit it issued to Grain Belt Express:
C. Prior to commencing construction of the direct current component of the Grain Belt Project in Kansas, Grain Belt Express will obtain the state or federal siting approvals required by law to begin construction on the entirety of the direct current portion of the Grain Belt Project outside the state of Kansas. For the avoidance of doubt, transmission line siting approvals from the Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana state utility commissions shall be sufficient to satisfy this condition.
D. This Order is conditional upon the cost of the Project and any AC Collector System owned by Grain Belt Express not being recovered through the SPP cost allocation process or from Kansas ratepayers.
E. Grain Belt Express is allowed five years from the date of the Commission's Order to begin construction of the project in Kansas or otherwise be required to reapply.
C. (again!) The Commission requires the Applicant to submit quarterly reports detailing the progress and costs of the project and a final report once construction is complete.
Because of C. (the first C.) above, GBE has not begun construction in Kansas. And the 5 year anniversary of GBE's permit mentioned in E. will happen in early November of this year. Meanwhile, the KCC closed the docket on GBE and opened a new one to receive the required quarterly update filings mentioned in C. part deux. Landowners have been living under the threat of GBE for the past 5 years. And now that their freedom is at hand...
Clean Line and the KCC Staff filed this motion (in a closed docket, no less) asking the KCC to approve an "extension" of the expiration date for another 5 years! Just like it was nothing. Let's give the landowners another 5 years of hell on earth and not even give them an opportunity to participate in the process.
The KCC was very clear in its 2013 Order. The permit is good for 5 years, and if GBE wants a longer period, it will have to reapply. That means file a whole new application with the KCC, new testimony, new witnesses, new public notification, new public participation. The KCC obviously intended to take a fresh look at GBE if it had not been started at 5 years. There was no option to grant an extension for another 5 years. It's clear as a bell!
So what were you trying to accomplish here, Clean Line? Were you trying to extend your permit the cheapest way possible? Is that because you no longer have the financial resources for a whole new proceeding? Clean Line tried mighty hard to make the KCC believe nothing has changed in 5 years. In fact, Clean Line says its managerial, technical and financial situation remains strong. Strong? What about the fact that all the management have started working for other companies, including "chairman" Michael Skelly? The fact the all the other Clean Line projects have either been sold or abandoned? The fact that Clean Line sold all its non-transmission assets to ConnectGen (where a bunch of the old Clean Line management managed to float on their golden parachutes)? Or maybe it's the fact that suddenly Skelly says he became "chairman" of Clean Line in 2018? Is that because all the other investors have bowed out of the company? Do tell us where Clean Line is "strong," won't you, Michael Skelly?
I guess Skelly thought nobody would utter a peep and the KCC would just rubber stamp his extension request.
But that didn't happen. Landowners DO remember. Once they're attacked and their homes and livelihood are threatened, they're like a pack of marauding elephants, don't you know? They NEVER forget!
Today, Kansas landowner Matthew Stallbaumer filed a Protest of Clean Line's motion for an extension. He included an affidavit from fellow landowner John Broxterman detailing what it's been like to live in the shadow of GBE for the past 5 years, and what it's like to face a doubling of his sentence just when his jail term is up.
Stallbaumer says that an extension is not in the public interest, that GBE's managerial, technical and financial position has changed drastically in the past 5 years, that the siting study the KCC approved for the routing of the project is 5 years old. Stallbaumer asks the KCC to deny Clean Line's motion, and in lieu of that to re-open the docket to allow public notice and participation, and require the filing of an updated siting study and further proof of Clean Line's "strong" position.
You can read Matthew's protest here.
Has 5 years been enough time to cure the institutional problems at the KCC? Do the present Commissioners follow their own laws and regulations? Do they allow due process for the public? We'll soon find out!
Meanwhile, BRAVO, Matthew and John! Thank you both for stepping up to slay the Clean Line dragon... again.
There's no place like home!
Clean Line and the KCC Staff filed this motion (in a closed docket, no less) asking the KCC to approve an "extension" of the expiration date for another 5 years! Just like it was nothing. Let's give the landowners another 5 years of hell on earth and not even give them an opportunity to participate in the process.
The KCC was very clear in its 2013 Order. The permit is good for 5 years, and if GBE wants a longer period, it will have to reapply. That means file a whole new application with the KCC, new testimony, new witnesses, new public notification, new public participation. The KCC obviously intended to take a fresh look at GBE if it had not been started at 5 years. There was no option to grant an extension for another 5 years. It's clear as a bell!
So what were you trying to accomplish here, Clean Line? Were you trying to extend your permit the cheapest way possible? Is that because you no longer have the financial resources for a whole new proceeding? Clean Line tried mighty hard to make the KCC believe nothing has changed in 5 years. In fact, Clean Line says its managerial, technical and financial situation remains strong. Strong? What about the fact that all the management have started working for other companies, including "chairman" Michael Skelly? The fact the all the other Clean Line projects have either been sold or abandoned? The fact that Clean Line sold all its non-transmission assets to ConnectGen (where a bunch of the old Clean Line management managed to float on their golden parachutes)? Or maybe it's the fact that suddenly Skelly says he became "chairman" of Clean Line in 2018? Is that because all the other investors have bowed out of the company? Do tell us where Clean Line is "strong," won't you, Michael Skelly?
I guess Skelly thought nobody would utter a peep and the KCC would just rubber stamp his extension request.
But that didn't happen. Landowners DO remember. Once they're attacked and their homes and livelihood are threatened, they're like a pack of marauding elephants, don't you know? They NEVER forget!
Today, Kansas landowner Matthew Stallbaumer filed a Protest of Clean Line's motion for an extension. He included an affidavit from fellow landowner John Broxterman detailing what it's been like to live in the shadow of GBE for the past 5 years, and what it's like to face a doubling of his sentence just when his jail term is up.
Stallbaumer says that an extension is not in the public interest, that GBE's managerial, technical and financial position has changed drastically in the past 5 years, that the siting study the KCC approved for the routing of the project is 5 years old. Stallbaumer asks the KCC to deny Clean Line's motion, and in lieu of that to re-open the docket to allow public notice and participation, and require the filing of an updated siting study and further proof of Clean Line's "strong" position.
You can read Matthew's protest here.
Has 5 years been enough time to cure the institutional problems at the KCC? Do the present Commissioners follow their own laws and regulations? Do they allow due process for the public? We'll soon find out!
Meanwhile, BRAVO, Matthew and John! Thank you both for stepping up to slay the Clean Line dragon... again.
There's no place like home!
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