...explore the specifics of how to develop and maintain positive landowner relationships while negotiating in good faith for pipeline, electric transmission, wind and solar, rail and public sector projects. This would include whether pursuing site leasing, site purchase, easements, right of ways and/or workspace, and whether coming from the perspective of project management, design engineering, environmental, appraising, permitting, survey, right of way, inspections, construction, operations, and others, this presentation is a must in helping ensure a successful project, on time and on budget with happy landowners.

Recognize and understand landowner’s perspectives and the importance of dealing with unique differences in various landowners, their personalities and their needs/concerns.

Beyond the historical considerations of zoning, environmental, special use, conservation and damages determination, communities are becoming more and more vocal in their requirements in infrastructure development.  As social media and cyber-activism have become the norm (even for landowners not impacted by a project), companies need to become social-savvy in route planning, outreach and negotiations.  More often than not, whether in the electric industry or in other related industries, projects are successful or fail spectacularly due to communication issues, lack of messaging and poor understanding of the locale impacted.

Case Study: Delivering Wind Energy to Market

The United States possesses some of the best renewable energy resources in the world. However, continued growth of the renewable energy industry in the U.S. faces a serious challenge: the lack of transmission. Clean Line Energy is developing a series of long-haul direct current transmission lines to deliver low-cost renewable energy to communities that have a strong demand for clean power.

This presentation will focus on the Grain Belt Express Clean Line, which will deliver wind energy from Kansas into Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. The project has received its regulatory approvals in Kansas, Illinois and Indiana and is currently working through the final state approval process in Missouri. The presentation will provide an update on the regulatory, routing, and other milestones accomplished with a focus on the benefits this project will bring to Missouri.

Amy Kurt, Director of Development, Clean Line Energy Partners

However, most the attendees at the Bell Schoolhouse Fire Station meeting opposed the project. Dennis Daniels, who organized the meeting, said he has already been a victim of eminent domain once and does not want to go through the process again.
 
"Honestly I don't have any questions for (representatives)," he said. "I just don't want them to come through my property."
 
He's concerned that the power line will decrease property values, restrict further development on his land and be an eyesore.
 
"It bothers me most that it's a private, for-profit company," he said. "They're going to use eminent domain to take our property rights away to give to a company in San Francisco to make millions of dollars off of each year."

In a public meeting at the Bell Schoolhouse Fire Station just outside Starkville Thursday, Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley urged residents to reach out to representatives from Southern Cross Transmission if they have questions about the company's proposed wind energy transmission line.
 
"Let it not be said of you that you didn't call on these people and that you didn't file an objection," Presley said at the meeting.

While eminent domain is not out of the question, Presley said he believes the company will do everything in its power to avoid having to use it. Southern Cross representatives have told him they have put in similar lines in other parts of the country without resorting to eminent domain.

Presley said his office received a plethora of letters, emails and phone calls from property owners who received letters. In a meeting with company representatives, Presley said someone from the company has to meet with property owners one-on-one at the time and place of the landowner's choosing.
 
In an interview with The Dispatch Thursday, Presley said a Southern Cross representative had already begun meeting with landowners individually. Presley also had the company designate a point of contact for landowners to call. Since then, his office has received fewer calls from concerned citizens.
 
In June, Southern Cross Transmission sent letters to landowners whose property is within 500 feet of one of the proposed routes and promised to hold meetings and answer questions from landowners. The company then hosted an open house for property owners, but many left that meeting with more questions than answers, Presley said.
 
Legally, Southern Cross Transmission doesn't have to communicate with the public at all until it has decided on a route and filed a proposal with the Public Service Commission. But Presley wants to ensure that the company shows landowners the dignity and respect they deserve.

FERC has previously found that the interconnection of the Southern Cross Project to the ERCOT transmission system is in the public interest and that the Project will create substantial benefits both for the ERCOT and the Southeast regions.

Southern Cross Transmission plans to settle on a route and file its proposal with the commission this fall. Once that happens, Presley said, citizens have 20 days to file an objection, which gives them legal rights in the case.

He requested landowners write down whatever questions they have, take those questions directly to the company and wait until they had met with Southern Cross representatives before deciding whether to oppose the project.

Presley has also said he will not approve the project unless the company can prove it has some benefit to Mississippi.
 
"I'm as much for clean air and clean energy as the next guy, but it's got to be about more than renewable energy," he said. "For us, that's a plus, but there has to be other things."

"At the end of the day, the ability to connect into wind energy, which does not cost anything as far as burning coal, burning natural gas, (is) obviously an energy source that could have a benefit to the state," Presley said.
 
"That's the benefit," he added. "But also obviously if this electricity is low cost, I'm not going to be supporting trucking it through Mississippi to pump it to Atlanta, Georgia, and our people have cheap electricity ran over the top of their property and not being able to take advantage of it."

The Plains & Eastern Clean Line is one of the largest clean energy infrastructure projects in the country. It will provide a pathway for 4,000 megawatts of low-cost wind power to be delivered from Oklahoma to the Mid-South and Southeast. The agreement between Clean Line Energy and TRC, which has a major office located in Tulsa, furthers Clean Line's commitment to working with local suppliers.
"Clean Line Energy's mission of building modern energy infrastructure closely aligns with our own core values of sustainability, including our commitment to grow our clean energy services year over year," said Chris Vincze, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "The 700-mile transmission line will improve the U.S. electric grid, support economic development and job growth, and make safe, reliable and lower-cost power available to consumers.

TRC will provide program management, acquisition of environmental and cultural survey consents, and acquisition support. It also will be communicating with landowners across the route to educate them about the benefits of the project.

Do not represent that a relative, neighbor and/or friend supports or opposes the Project.

Do not suggest that any person should be ashamed of or embarrassed by his or her opposition to the Project or that such opposition is inappropriate.

Do not argue with property owners about the merits of the Project.

As a resident of a "state farther east" proposed to be the beneficiary of this senseless sacrifice of Missourians, I am not in favor of importing renewables from other states. For years, West Virginians made a sacrifice to export energy to states to the east. Now that the bottom has fallen out of that market, West Virginia is left with nothing to show for its years of sacrifice. We must rebuild our energy economy and that includes building our own renewable energy generators for local use. We cannot afford to ship our energy dollars out of state to import Midwest wind, but must put them to work in our own communities to promote local jobs and economic development. Grain Belt Express is not wanted in Eastern states.

The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.

MARK TWAIN, Following the Equator

To string incongruities and absurdities together in a wandering and sometimes purposeless way, and seem innocently unaware that they are absurdities, is the basis of the American art, if my position is correct.

MARK TWAIN, "How to Tell a Story"

In order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.

MARK TWAIN, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Preliminary calculations, assuming existing production tax credits for wind project participation in the project, could reduce costs by as much as $10M/year or $10 per  megawatt hour compared to delivery of other wind projects from SPP to MISO.

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

MARK TWAIN, Autobiography

Government is merely a servant – merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.

MARK TWAIN, The Bible According to Mark Twain

Its name is Public Opinion. It is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it is the voice of God.

MARK TWAIN, Europe and Elsewhere

To: [email protected]
Subject: Violation of Code of Conduct

Well, I had an interesting encounter with some Clean Line people this morning.  A surveying crew came to my house this morning.   Of course, they would not admit to working for Clean Line.  I later received a call from a Clean Line representative, asking for permission to enter my property and denying any knowledge of the surveyor crew.

You can read my description of today's events below, but here is the summary.  A survey crew tried to gain access to private property by misrepresenting themselves and a Clean Line rep denied the crew works for Clean Line.

Two surveyors came to my house, asking for permission to enter property that I rent from my neighbor just to the north of my property.  One of them told me that my neighbor had referred them to me.   This fellow told me he was working for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and he wanted to shoot the corners of the AG&F property which is adjacent to my neighbor's property and my property.  I quizzed him about who he worked for.  He told his company was under contract to do the work for the AG&F.  (Later, I called my neighbor and she said the fellow told her he was doing work for the AG&F.)  I asked for written proof of who he was and that his company was doing work for the AG&F.  He did not have any proof, not even a business card.  I told him I would have to see proof of who he is and who he is working for.  I apologized for the inconvenience.  I told him Clean Line was trying to get access to our property and for all I knew he could be from Clean Line.  

I asked the surveyor if he was doing work for Clean Line and he said no.

I contacted the manager of the AG&F management area.  He said the AG&F did not have a survey crew checking the property lines.  He said he was aware of a Clean Line crew doing an environmental survey in the area.  
 
As soon as the two surveyors left, I started trying to call the AG&F manager.  While on my cell phone, I received a call on the land line.  I asked the caller to call back.  About an hour later a Clean Line rep called, asking for permission to enter my property.  He said he was the person who tried to call earlier.  I told him about the incident with the surveyors and he denied knowing anything about a survey crew trying to get access to my property.  He said it was a big coincidence that he just happened to call a few minutes after the survey crew left.

To recap.  The survey crew said they were doing work for the AG&F.  The AG&F said the surveyors were not working for them. Clean Line is trying to get private property access to do their environmental survey.  It stretches the bounds of credulity to imagine that the survey crew does not work for Clean Line.  The incident is compounded by having a Clean Line rep deny any knowledge of it.

Is this the vaunted Code of Conduct the Department of Energy had in mind when it entered into unholy matrimony with Clean Line?

 During our conversation, the CL rep said he didn't know anything about a property line survey crew.  The only surveys he knew anything about were the environmental surveys. When I told him I didn't believe him, he told me he was a born again Christian and he wouldn't lie.

From: "Lawrence, Christopher" <[email protected]>
Date: June 14, 2016 at 11:01:44 AM CDT
To: Landowner
Subject: RE: Violation of Code of Conduct

Hello Mr. Landowner,

Thank you for raising this concern.  The Department takes the requirements of the Participation Agreement very seriously.  The Participation Agreement includes numerous protective measures for property owners, including, as you mention, the Code of Conduct at Schedule 12.  The matter of your concern will be discussed with Clean Line and, as needed, Clean Line's compliance with all of its contractual responsibilities under the Participation Agreement will be clarified.

Christopher A. Lawrence
Electricity Policy Analyst
National Electricity Delivery Division
Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
U.S. Department of Energy
O-(202) 586-5260
F-(202) 586-8008
[email protected]

All communications with property owners and occupants must be factually correct and made in good faith.

1. Do not make false or misleading statements.
2. Do not purposely or intentionally misrepresent any fact.

When contacting a property owner in person, promptly identify yourself as representing Plains & Eastern.