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Caveat Emptor, Invenergy!

1/27/2020

3 Comments

 
Congratulations, Missouri!  This evening, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor of HB 2033 that would prohibit the use of eminent domain by merchant transmission developers!

The bill is now on to the Senate.  Stay tuned for ways you can help ensure this very important new law is put into place.

But what about Invenergy?  Caveat Emptor, fellas!  You bought a used transmission project with a host of problems.  It's not just a little dog-eared, it's rode hard through a briar patch with stones in its shoes and put away wet lame. 

The people of Missouri have spoken through their elected representatives.  I think the message is loud and clear.
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NO NEED, NO GAIN, NO EMINENT DOMAIN!
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Central Maine Power Dons Clown Suit For Failing Public Relations Effort

12/4/2019

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CMP's New England Clean Energy Connect transmission project is doomed.  And it's getting pretty expensive.  Good thing there's a clown!

Foster's reports that CMP and its foreign-owned parent company, Avangrid, thought it would be smooth sailing for NECEC.  It's been anything but smooth sailing.

Maine doesn't want this project!  The people of Maine don't want a new transmission line through one of their last remaining unspoiled wild areas in order to serve Massachusetts with green-washed "new" power sources.  And they're not giving up.

Grassroots groups have been hard at work collecting petition signatures to put the issue on the ballot in 2020.  CMP is feeling so threatened (and sure that the grassroots groups will succeed) that it recently kicked off a political action committee with $500,000 from Avangrid.  This anemic PAC is intended to sway the vote in favor of the project.  Send in the clowns!

It's not off to an auspicious start.

There's a hysterically bad Facebook group.  It started off with something like 20 followers, but has now magically bumped its followers up to just over 500.  I'm not buying it.  There are places you can purchase fake Facebook followers.  Cha-ching!  How much did that dip into the Avangrid fund?  How come I think CMP bought itself some followers?  Just take a look at their Facebook page!  There are hundreds of comments opposing the transmission project on every post.  I haven't seen any comments supporting the project.  People are laughing at this pathetic Facebook foray.

And then this turned up today:
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CMP has hired a casting director to audition some people that merely "look" like real people from Maine to star in upcoming advertisements for the project.  It even wants some cute kids; to pull on your heartstrings and cry about how grassroots opposition to NECEC is stealing their dreams and their childhood.  (No mention of how being exploited in a TV commercial contributes to this problem).

Seriously?  Now that everyone can see that CMP is casting ACTORS for its advertisements, nobody will believe them.  The "Plain Folks" propaganda device only works when the audience doesn't know they're actors!

You know how it is when you see some fading celebrity hawking Ginzu knives and age-spot cream on Infomercials at 3 A.M.?  Yeah, that.  That's about how believable these expensive ads are going to be for the public.

Somebody is trying really hard to employ the seven common propaganda devices to this PAC's campaign.  Cha-ching!$!  CMP is dumping a lot of money into an effort that doesn't stand a chance.  And it looks like their PR company is bumbling badly.

How much profit must be in it for Avangrid if it's willing to dump this kind of money into propping up its doomed project?  This project has to be crazy over budget at this point.  Where's the money coming from?  I do hope someone is paying attention to CMP's rate filings to make sure they don't have any happy, little, accounting accidents.

Meanwhile, grassroots activists are making fantastic headway in their petition drive.  It's awfully nice of CMP to provide them with these expensive comedy breaks... because laughter is always what makes life worth living.  Carry on, folks!
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AEP Snows City of Dublin About Transmission Project

12/4/2019

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Where there's new transmission, there's always opposition.  The crafty utility manipulates the community to fight about where to put the transmission line, not whether to build it in the first place.  Yay, you, AEP!

It was reported that residents of the Ballantrae community in Dublin, Ohio, stormed a city council meeting recently.  The City wants to re-route or bury the project, but seems to have blindly accepted its necessity.
PJM Interconnection -- a regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of electricity in 13 states including Ohio -- mandated AEP build a new line in Dublin’s West Innovation District based on energy forecasts and projections, said Dublin Public Affairs Officer Lindsay Weisenauer.

Joe Demaree, a project outreach specialist for AEP, said Dublin residents and businesses -- and future residents and business -- would require more electricity. The summer of 2022 is when projected electrical capacity necessary to support businesses and residents would outpace existing infrastructure, he said.

The proposed transmission line, Demaree said, would fix that problem and avoid putting AEP’s power grid in jeopardy.

Mandated?  Isn't that a pretty strong word for a project AEP requested that was never approved by PJM?

This project was one on a long list AEP presented to PJM under its M-3 process.  Under the M-3 process, the Transmission Owners are responsible for planning a series of meetings with stakeholders specific to system needs, solutions and projects to be included in the local plan. PJM's role is to facilitate those meetings. The PJM Board of Managers do not approve Supplemental Projects.

Got it?  Not approved.  Simply accepted.  Acceptance does not equal mandate.

And why does AEP believe this project is needed?  Here's AEP's actual description of need for this project presented to PJM:

AEP has received requests for increased demand in the Dublin, Ohio area. Analysis shows Bethel - Sawmill 138 kV will be a constraint. Consequent inspection identified clearance violations along the Bethel - Sawmill 138 kV line. AEP has de-rated the thermal capacity of the line to mitigate potential safety issues. Brookside-Sawmill -> N-1-1=127%, N-1=117% Bethel-Brookside -> N-1-1=102%, N-1=92% (N-1-1: Bethel - Roberts 138 kV + Davidson - Roberts 138 kV) AEP believes that the loading issues exist today due to the recent 30% de-rate of the line. Newly connected customer loads are scheduled to ramp up, significantly contributing to area thermal concerns.

The Dublin-Sawmill 138kV circuit will experience loading of 116% under N-1-1 conditions involving the loss of Bethel-Davidson 138kV & Davidson-Roberts 138kV circuits. With load growth in the area, we anticipate this line to overload starting in 2022. AEP-Ohio has requested a third 138kV source to Dublin station to maintain acceptable reliability levels for the load at risk. Dublin Station serves 75 MVA of peak demand with minimal load transfer capability. Dublin station serves some critical loads. Newly connected customer loads are scheduled to ramp, significantly contributing to area thermal concerns.

Newly connected customer loads.  Requests for increased demand.  Some new customer or customers that use an inordinate amount of power are expected in Dublin.  New manufacturing that will provide new jobs?  Or new data center that will provide few jobs?  I dunno, but it's a big customer or customers.  This is what is driving this request from AEP... their anticipation of increased load.  Will it actually happen?  Maybe the City of Dublin can shed some light on this.

Because it was expecting this new, big customer, AEP decided to inspect its existing line.  And, wouldn't you know it, there are some previously neglected clearance issues!  As in, the existing line sags too much during high load and hot weather.  Ut-oh!  AEP took it upon itself to save the day by de-rating the line 30%.  This means that the maximum loading of the line was reduced by 30%.  And, wouldn't you know it, de-rating the line caused overloads!  Now there's not enough capacity available to serve anticipated load!  And, wouldn't you know it, utilities like AEP make money building things and collecting generous returns on their investments over their useful life.  Serendipity!  Dublin needs new transmission!

PJM has nothing to do with AEP's request.  AEP concocted this solution.  PJM didn't say "boo" one way or the other.  Hardly a mandate.

Now the City of Dublin is in a quandry... should it spend city funds to make AEP bury the transmission line, or route it somewhere else?  Are the drawbacks of this new line too much for Ballantrae, or other residents of Dublin to bear?  Where should they put the transmission line?

Does Dublin really need this transmission line?  Are there other solutions?  These are the questions Dublin should really be asking.  PJM simply won't care if AEP doesn't carry out its current plan.  The lights aren't going to go off.  There are always alternatives.

Looks like AEP has a community opposition wildfire igniting.  Just because the City swallowed AEP's fish story about mandates hook, line and sinker doesn't mean the people who would have to live with the new transmission line will.

It's never about where to put it, it's about whether to put it.  Before spending millions of dollars of taxpayer funds, the City of Dublin has a little more investigating to do.
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Coalition Sues to Block Boardman to Hemingway Transmission Line

11/14/2019

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The Boardman to Hemingway transmission project probably needs a longevity award for its sheer annoyance.  It's been bumping along for more than a decade now, still no closer to actually being built.  If it hasn't been built in more than 10 years, chances are good that its necessity has been obviated.  Once upon a time, it got added to Obama's "Rapid Response Transmission Team".  That really helped, like the kiss of death.

And now it's headed through the court system.  Nothing rapid about that!
Concerned citizens across Oregon have joined forces to oppose construction of the massive, nearly 300-mile-long, Boardman to Hemingway (B2H) high-voltage transmission line. Stop B2H Coalition and Greater Hells Canyon Council charged the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service with failure to adequately review the impact of the route Idaho Power has proposed for the B2H transmission line across five eastern Oregon counties. The suit was filed in federal court in Pendleton.

The suit addresses the federal agencies’ failure to adequately evaluate the need for and environmental effects of the line, which would cause harm to family farms, residential areas and wildlife habitat.

Jim Kreider, Co-Chairperson for Stop B2H Coalition, explained: “Public comment on the federal environmental review closed more than four and a half years ago, long before Idaho Power completed its design for the project. The transmission line route was changed to pass within 2,000 feet of homes in La Grande, and there has been a lot of new information about the project’s likely destructive impacts on eastern Oregon. We are trying to prevent catastrophic damage to our public and private lands by an out-of-state corporation which prioritizes profits for its shareholders.”

The citizens groups’ complaint also cites likely public safety hazards along the project route, including geologic instability and excessive noise near homes, recreation areas and campgrounds. The B2H project would also crisscross the Oregon Trail’s historic ruts and viewsheds—yet BLM refused to consider a citizen-proposed alternative of burying the line for less than two miles in front of the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker County, where 40,000 people come each year to admire the historic Trail.

"This power line would literally cut a permanent destructive swath through local forests and grasslands," said Brian Kelly, restoration director for Greater Hells Canyon Council of La Grande, who also expressed concerns for BLM’s failure to adequately address impacts on wildlife corridors, clean water, climate change, habitat for elk, deer, salmon, and more. "We must protect these values that are so important for all of us.”

The citizens groups say that BLM underestimated the line’s impacts on several resources, including Morgan Lake Park and the habitat of imperiled plants, fish and birds—including the Greater sage-grouse, whose Oregon population in 2019 reached its lowest level in three decades—as well as the likely spread of invasive weeds on public lands and family farms. “In addition to those obvious deficiencies,” Kreider went on to say that “technological changes in the utility industry have made Idaho Power’s 12-year-old proposal obsolete.”

The groups are represented by Portland-based attorneys, including the Crag Law Center.
Rrrrrrr.  Rrrrrrrr.  I think this "rapid" transmission project's battery is dead.
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It's Time To Get Serious About Killing Grain Belt Express For Good

10/26/2019

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Who hasn't enjoyed their summer, free from GBE drama?  It was nice while it lasted.  But GBE hadn't really gone away... it just went in hiding at the project hospital behind the corporate couch, where it licked itself extensively and dreamed evil dreams.  And, now, just in time for Halloween.... it's baaaaaaack!

Looks like Clean Line finally met the conditions precedent for the sale to complete.  Invenergy says they are in the process of finalizing the deal.  What were the conditions?  Missouri and Kansas had to approve the sale, which they did.  Kansas even went so far as to change the meaningless deadline to build the project that it set back in 2013.  KCC added 10 years onto the project's lifetime, meaning landowners in Kansas will be held in limbo for nearly 20 years.  Twenty years!  Think about that for a moment.  What if you had a cloud on your property for two decades?  Say someone threatened to take over your kitchen using eminent domain, but never actually did it.  And then the fridge broke.  Would you want to buy a new fridge that someone else is just going to take?  Of course not!  And what if your job transferred you to another state while this was going on and you needed to sell your property?  Who would buy a house where the kitchen was about to be taken by eminent domain?  Holding landowners hostage on their own property for two decades, for free, mind you, is absolutely unconscionable. 

The KCC's conditions for extending the deadline another 10 years:

  • By December 2, 2024, Grain Belt shall show that through a combination of the following, a majority of the easements necessary to build the Kansas portion of the Project: (1) have been executed, (2) are demonstrably being negotiated, or (3) are subject to proceedings in state court. Alternatively, Grain Belt must show it has obtained financing for the complete Project. If Grain Belt is unable to meet the required percentage of easements or obtain financing, it is subject to sanctions or shall file a new transmission line siting permit application under K.S.A. 66-1, 178.

  • By December 2, 2026, the percentage of easements necessary to build the Kansas portion of the Project escalates. If Grain Belt is unable to meet the required percentage of easements or obtain financing, it is subject to increased sanctions or shall file a new transmission line siting permit application under K.S.A. 66-1,178.
  • By December 2, 2028, the percentage of easements necessary to build the Kansas portion of the Project escalates. If Grain Belt is unable to meet the required percentage of easements or obtain financing, Grain Belt must either: (1) shall file a new transmission line siting permit application under K.S.A. 66-1,178; or (b) abandon the Project and allow all easements to revert to the landowners.

Sanctions, you say?  Surely you jest!  What kind of "sanctions" could come out of a captured state agency that grants a 10-year extension when the regulated only asked for 5?  The KCC continues to demonstrate its corporate ownership by ordering meaningless deadlines that it never enforces.

Invenergy is hiring to staff up the GBE project.  Hans Detweiler's beard of unemployment has grown long waiting for this moment!  He admitted as much during testimony before the Missouri PSC, where he pretended to be a Clean Line employee with knowledge about the project (although Hans was attached to RICL throughout its life).  Poor Hans!  All hope is dashed!  Invenergy requires its new Vice President to be a degreed ENGINEER, not just a Poli Sci major who likes to masquerade as an engineer at landowner meetings.  I wonder where Hans can buy an engineering degree real quick?  Anybody know?

Alas, the job seems to be missing a requirement that this project guy have chameleon capabilities so that he's harder to find by landowners when things go wrong, but I'm sure that would be an unpublished plus.
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Invenergy has a new website for Grain Belt Express.  I never thought I'd say this, but Clean Line's website for the project was much better.  Invenergy's website is pretty devoid of useful information or opportunities for user interaction.  It's almost like they haven't quite finished it yet and aren't ready to have it plastered all over the internet.  Too bad, so sad.

There's pretty much nothing for landowners on Invenergy's website.  I do note that the project is now 800 miles long, although Invenergy is using the same old project map.  Where did the extra 50 miles of project come from?  Or does the number 800 have a certain amount of luck or feng shui that 750 doesn't?  Is Invenergy just that superstitious?  Or do they actually think making the project sound longer is a good thing?  It's not a good thing for landowners, but I don't think landowners are the target audience for this website.  Perhaps Invenergy is working on a Facebook page for the project to give landowners an interactive portal?  Miss Kitty Hamm can hardly wait!

Speaking of ham, I don't see a new round of landowner meetings designed for Invenergy to introduce itself to the subservient tenants who will maintain the real estate its money making project sits on in perpetuity.  You're not even getting a ham dinner this time.  It pretty much looks like Invenergy is just going to turn right around and file eminent domain on you whenever it wants.  After all, why bother with the charade of "only as a last resort" when a state has granted you eminent domain authority?  For a company unused to having the POWER of eminent domain to site its unwanted projects, I'm sure they just can't wait to use it.

There are still numerous substantial obstacles for GBE that Invenergy fails to mention on its website.  First of all, the project has no customers!  Without customers, it will never be built.  Clean Line tried for nearly a decade to find customers (I mean real customers, not a bunch of greedy munis who think they're going to get a free lunch).  What makes Invenergy think it can find customers now?  Hey, guess what?  Offshore wind.  It's a thing.  Nobody in PJM wants Invenergy's overpriced hot air.  It also does not have a permit in Illinois and has not applied for one.  It's just not true that simply buying utility property will make Invenergy a public utility in Illinois.  If that's what Clean Line told Invenergy, the joke's on Invenergy.  Getting GBE permitted in Illinois is close to impossible (and probably very, very expensive).
And then there's the pending appeal in Missouri.  Oral arguments are coming up soon.  Don't forget that GBE must receive the assent of every county crossed by the project before construction can begin.  That's not going to be easy or cheap, either.

So, hey, Invenergy, you've got yourself a project!  But you've also bought a huge, engaged and effective opposition that will thwart you at every turn.  There's just no way to turn this "NO" into a "YES."  Clean Line has created a deep-rooted hatred of fancy pants city guys on a money-making expedition to use rural America like their own personal slot machine.  Sorry, you lose.

What's coming up for the opposition?  Of course we don't publish our strategy (oops, sorry, Invenergy) ahead of time.  Let's just say it's time to re-connect and get back to work.  Let's kill GBE for good this time!
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Maine Citizens Bring Unwanted Transmission Line to a Vote

9/5/2019

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This just in from Maine:
CMP Corridor Opponents Launch Citizens Initiative
Opponents of Central Maine Power's transmission corridor have filed an application with the Secretary of State to launch a statewide ballot initiative to stop the controversial project.
Tom Saviello , the citizen initiator of the effort, turned in bill language that would revoke the project's deeply unpopular permit approval from Maine's top energy regulator, the Public Utilities Commission. Revoking this permit, called a certificate of public convenience and necessity, would reflect the clear wishes of the majority of Mainers, who do not want the corridor to be built.
"CMP's corridor has drawn strong opposition from most Mainers," Saviello said. "Allowing Mainers to vote to block this project is only fair. We have to consider that nearly 25 towns have already voted to oppose the project, polling shows overwhelming opposition to the project, and CMP's awful scandals continue to get worse. Add to that the fact that Augusta has failed to listen to the clear voice of the people, and it's time for Mainers to take this matter into their own hands. We began the citizen's initiative process so this project will
get stopped in its tracks. Western Maine is too valuable to destroy."
Saviello is a former state representative and state senator from Franklin County, an area that would be heavily affected by CMP's corridor.
Sandi Howard, the director of Say NO to NECEC, will join Saviello in heading up the effort. Say NO to NECEC is a large grassroots organization that formed in opposition to the corridor.
"This corridor is bad for just about everyone," Howard said. "It's only good for a very select few. Augusta politicians and the state agencies who are supposed to protect Maine have failed, so we have to take this effort into our own hands. The citizen's initiative process is an enormous undertaking, but we have more than 20 thousand motivated Mainers who have signed up to help. They've called legislators, lobbied their elected officials, shown up at town meetings, and have even weighed in with Maine's energy and environmental regulators. The work they've done so far is already the broadest and most impressive exercise in direct democracy this state has seen in the modern era, and we know that Mainers are ready to get to work on this next step. We also know that CMP will use every legal trick, every lobbyist they can buy, and all of their influence in Augusta to push for their billion-dollar project, all while neglecting and overcharging their customers. This corridor is bad for Maine, and we don't trust CMP to build it."
The draft language will be considered by the Secretary of State's office in the coming days. Once the Secretary of State clears the language, corridor opponents will use their volunteer network to begin collecting petition signatures from Mainers. See draft language below.
An Act to Reject the New England Clean Energy Connect Transmission Project
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. Amend Order. Within 30 days of the effective date of this legislation and pursuant to its authority under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, section 1321, the Public Utilities Commission shall amend the “Order Granting Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and Approving Stipulation” entered by the Public Utilities Commission on May 3, 2019 in Docket No. 2017‑00232 for the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission project. The amended order shall find that the construction and operation of the NECEC transmission project is not in the public interest that there is not a public need for the NECEC transmission project. There not being a public need, the amended order shall deny the request for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the NECEC.
Maybe Governor Janet Mills shouldn't have vetoed the legislation passed earlier this year.  Now she's got a bigger problem on her hands.

Best of luck to the citizens of Maine in taking back their government from a foreign corporation!  This is what democracy looks like!
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Grain Belt Express IS NOT a Public Utility

9/5/2019

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Initial briefs have been filed in the joint appeal of the Missouri PSC's issuance of a permit to Grain Belt Express.

Eastern Missouri Landowners Alliance, Missouri Farm Bureau and landowner Christina Reichert filed an appeal stating that the PSC has no jurisdiction to issue a permit to GBE because is is not an "electrical corporation" under Missouri law.  If it's not an "electrical corporation," it's not a public utility entitled to use eminent domain to acquire easements. 

It's actually pretty simple and follows the successful arguments made at the Illinois Supreme Court that vacated a permit issued by the Illinois Commerce Commission to Rock Island Clean Line, and a permit for Grain Belt Express that was vacated by the Illinois Court of Appeals.  Clean Line (now Invenergy) doesn't own utility property in the state that qualifies it as a "public utility" under Illinois law.  GBE also doesn't own utility property in Missouri, as defined by Missouri law.  The PSC tried to pretend it did in order to issue the permit, concluding that a handful of easement options and a bank account with some cash was "utility property."  By that definition, anyone with a quarter in his pocket is an "electrical corporation" because he could use that quarter to buy some utility property in the future.  Cash can be used for many things, but you can't build a transmission line out of dollar bills.  The easement options also fail because GBE does not own, control or manage any land.  It has an option to purchase an easement at a later date, but it does not control the land at this time.  The landowner can still do whatever they want with their land before the option is exercised.

But that's not the only problem with GBE, although you may think it is if you read this article.  Try though it might to masquerade an an actual independent news source, Energy News Network (formerly Midwest Energy News) is funded and controlled by "Fresh Energy" which is in turn funded by numerous dark money "foundations" and renewable energy companies.
Since all these hypocritical environmentalists like to point the finger at grassroots opposition to invasive energy projects as being funded by "dark money" (which is absolutely NOT TRUE), the finger goes back at them and this time it IS true.  Try finding out who funds FreshEnergy donor "Energy Foundation".  Influence Watch calls it "...a left-of-center “pass through” charitable foundation founded by and supported by a network of left-wing organizations...".  But, "In reality, it is a medium for bundling vast sums of money from donors to far-left political causes, under the guise of philanthropy."  "News" source, indeed!  It's nothing but dark money propaganda.

Anyhow... back to our show...

Perhaps a bigger hurdle for GBE is the fact that its business model and rate scheme do not meet the definition of public utility in Missouri.  This point was argued quite well at the Illinois Supreme Court, however the justices found Rock Island was not a public utility because it did not own utility property, saving for another day a decision on whether its business model and rate structure prohibited it from meeting the legal definition of a public utility.  And if you think that decision would have been a squeaker, it wasn't.  Anyone watching the oral arguments could discern how the justices felt about it.  Therefore, this argument is alive and well.

In Missouri, a public utility is under the jurisdiction of the PSC.  Except GBE really isn't.  It's rate scheme is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  Under state law, a public utility must serve everyone indiscriminately, and must charge the same rates to similarly situated customers.  But GBE won't do that.  GBE will sell its service to only select customers who bid highest for its service, and it will negotiate a different rate for service with each customer.  Imagine if your electric company did this.  What if they refused to serve your home, but served your neighbors?  And what if they charged your neighbors a much lower rate than they charged you for the same service?  This isn't a public utility, it's a private enterprise.  As a private enterprise, it isn't entitled to eminent domain authority to take private property for its own use.

That's pretty much been the basis of the arguments of landowners since day one.  Clean Line, or GBE, can build whatever it wants, but it should never be given the power of eminent domain.

In addition, the Missouri Landowners Alliance has filed a separate appeal that hinges on legal errors made by the PSC during the course of its hearings.  MLA was prohibited from accessing "confidential" information that made up the basis for GBE's testimony.  If MLA did not have the information, it could not examine it nor question its validity.

Meanwhile, GBE is in a heap of trouble unrelated to its PSC permit.  It still does not have the Missouri county assents it must have before beginning construction.  Therefore, it's PSC permit is nothing more than a useless piece of paper.  What do you think the chances are of the county governments assenting to GBE crossing their roads at this stage of the game... after more than 7 years of lies and harassment from GBE?  In addition, GBE has not even applied for a permit in Illinois.  Doing so would be at least a 2-year endeavor, probably greater, and the chances of the Illinois Supreme Court vacating any permit issued are huge. 

So, what does Invenergy intend to do with GBE?  Not what it told the Missouri Public Service Commission at hearing, obviously.

It's time to retire this white elephant.  Merchant transmission does not pass the test of state public utility laws.

You can read the Joint Appeal Brief here.
And the Missouri Landowners Alliance Brief here.

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Cleansing By Fire - The Transmission Opposition Version

8/26/2019

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Great balls of fire!  A transmission tower was set on fire in New Hampshire recently.  No, you don't need to get the authorities involved... it was a wooden replica.

Opponents of the Northern Pass Transmission project spent years proving the project was not needed and not right for New Hampshire.  Ultimately, victory was theirs!  The opponents recently held a celebration where a wooden transmission tower replica was stuffed with accumulated paper and other now useless project detritus, lit on fire, and burned to the ground.  Read about it here.
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I did.  And then things started getting wavy and weird.
Been there.  Done that.
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Party on, Northern Pass opponents!
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The Wisconsin PSC Has Never Met A Transmission Project It Didn't Love

8/21/2019

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Over the years, I've worked with lots of different transmission opposition groups.  Each one claims its own state government is the most corrupt.  But I've never found a clear winner of The Most Corrupt State Government Award... until now.  I think we've finally crossed that line with a clear winner.  It's Wisconsin.

Watching the PSC Commissioners discuss Cardinal Hickory Creek yesterday, I smelled it coming.  Such platitudes for citizens who gave it their all to demonstrate the project is neither needed nor economic.  The more Commissioners loved the citizens, the tighter they were winding up to stab them in the back.  Then there was the announcement that no audience participation or outbursts would be tolerated during the discussion.  Clues, clues... someone call Sherlock Holmes!

Good ol' Sherlock probably would have deduced that it was all a farce.  Did the Commissioners really read the entire evidentiary record?  Or did they make a snap political decision completely outside the record?

I'm going to guess it was the latter.  Opponents expressed shock and disgust at the Commission's decision.  The evidence proved the project was not needed or economic.  They had been feeling rather confident.

But is it really ever about the evidence?  State utility commissions want you to believe their stilted court-like process is fair.  For the most part, it is, while it is underway.  Judges have to follow the law.  The evidentiary record is built from all sorts of contradictory evidence.  But it's often not for the judge to decide, or even make a recommendation.  Such is the case in Wisconsin, where the Commissioners hold court long after the administrative hearing process concludes, pretend they have studied the evidence in depth, and then make a decision on the project.  Then it's up to the judge and/or staff to construct an order using evidence from the record to back up the decision the Commissioners have made.

It's completely ass backwards.  It's not that the Commissioners carefully weigh the evidence in order to reach their decision.  They reach their decision and then expects the "facts" to back it up to be teased out of the record by the staff writing the Order.

How would just such a system work in a civil or criminal court?  What if someone else who didn't even attend your trial made a decision unrelated to the evidence?  Would that be due process?

Stories about the PSCW's Cardinal Hickory Creek approval yesterday stated:
According to PSC records dating back to the 1970s, the commission has never rejected a utility application to build a transmission line.
Never rejected an application.  Never.  Ya got a problem, Wisconsin.  Your PSC is broken.  Your PSC is broken because your political system is broken.  Cardinal Hickory Creek was approved because of politics.

But did these earnest, hard working citizens waste their time?  Absolutely not.  They stand ready to continue the fight, and they will be more determined and better prepared for the next time.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T

8/19/2019

1 Comment

 
Experts Advise Respect to Counter Project Opposition
said the headline in RTO Insider.  Oh, yes, who are these "experts," and how do they "respect" project opposition groups?  Is this another stilted EUCI Conference, where clueless utility executives tell other clueless utility executives how they "won" even though their transmission project failed?  Honestly, it's been done before, ad nauseam, and giving lip service to "respect" never translates into actual respect.  It's just a bunch of people who have never been project opponents telling other people how those opponents feel.  Now they want to "respect" us.  But is it actual respect, or just pretend respect that they think will win us over?

Let's examine what these "experts" said.
Apex Clean Energy Vice President of Public Affairs Dahvi Wilson said it’s no longer simply a matter of getting landowners to sign off on projects. Now, Wilson said, utilities need to secure public support.
“We’re increasingly before state [and] local governments, and we’re facing opponents that are very sincerely concerned about what’s coming to their communities but also misguided,” Wilson said.
Utilities are increasingly facing the deliberate spread of misinformation online about proposed projects, she said. “We’re in a lot of debate right now over what’s true.”
Wilson said regulators must now ascertain whether data are scientifically rigorous or simply pulled from a questionable webpage.
Here we've got an industry public relations spinner who is "respecting" the opposition by calling it "misguided", "misinformed", and "questionable."  That's not R-E-S-P-E-C-T!  That's derisive smoke-blowing.  It's telling the opposition that it's wrong and that its facts are not accurate, as if the utility alone is the sole repository and adjudicator of "facts."  This attitude drives the disrespect of communities.  We don't need any greedy companies coming in and telling us we're stupid.  It's an attempt to reframe the argument to try to make us believe it's okay to be your victim.  If an energy infrastructure project was an unwanted sexual advance (and the similarities here are striking), it's the equivalent of sticking your cold utility hand down our pants while telling us we asked for it and there's nothing wrong with what you're doing.  Disgusting and abusive.  Go away and keep your hands (and your invasive project) to yourself.

But, hey, there actually was a panelist speaking from experience... and what did he have to say?
North Dakota Indian Affairs Commissioner Scott Davis, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, led negotiations with the Dakota Access Pipeline over a two-year period. He described how he was constantly afraid of a protester’s death and listening to helicopters conducting crowd control near his home.
“Don’t underestimate the power of my people. You can tell them not to do it, and they’re going to do it,” Davis said. “Quite honestly, government hasn’t treated us very well in the decades of our existence.”
Davis said “old-fashioned” face-to-face discussions with tribal or community leaders is the best approach to introducing projects with communities, native or not. Davis also warned that treaties protect tribal land.

“[For] a lot of you that have tribes in your states, treaties are the law of the land. They’re in the Constitution. … Understanding tribes, where they’re coming from, is so important,” Davis said. “I think in this world of progress, progress, progress, what drives us — what pushes the gas pedal of progress — is trust. If you’re just rubber-stamping [energy infrastructure projects], you will have an issue.”
Likewise when you approach a community with a fully-formed project and threats of eminent domain.  You're going to have a problem.  Industry approaches a community with a solution, not a problem (and oftentimes it's just not the community's problem in the first place).  Industry then proceeds to reject all community ideas and attempts at compromise (such as using existing infrastructure, burial, or re-routing).  Then it threatens to use eminent domain to take the property of those who don't agree.  This isn't R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Wilson said the wind industry, which previously tended to submit projects quietly, hoping for little public notice, is now more transparent. She also agreed that it’s imperative for utilities to spend face-to-face time in a community.
“If the people that are fighting our projects are much more liked in the community, the community is going to believe them over us,” Wilson advised.
However, she said, it’s still a “hard sell” to convince many utilities to spend money to embed company representatives in a community to foster trust.
Sorry, sweetcheeks, no matter how much money you spend trying to make yourself "liked" in a community you're not part of, the community is STILL going to believe community members over you.  Those who pretend they "like" you only "like" the money you're giving them.  Every community hates a sell-out.

And what do you mean by "embed"?  That sounds so subversive, so calculated, so slimy.  You embed spies and mercenaries  in a community as part of a propaganda campaign to slyly implant a bad idea so it becomes ingrained.  It's sneaky.  It's dirty.  Do you really think we're going to fall for that?
Environmental Law & Policy Center Senior Attorney Brad Klein said it’s generally good practice for a utility to perform a full environmental impact analysis early in the process and thoroughly investigate alternatives to a large energy infrastructure project.

“I don’t think alternatives are appropriate in all cases, but they should be fully considered up front,” Klein said. Decisions should be made based on “full and fair information,” he said, which should contemplate new technologies, battery storage and collections of distributed resources.

Cart before horse!  You're still talking about presenting an infrastructure project as a fait accompli.  You're not listening to the community's ideas, you're simply presenting your own while turning a deaf ear.  That's not R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Klein also acknowledged that there will be environmental trade-offs with any large infrastructure project. But utilities and regulators shouldn’t insult groups of concerned citizens, he said.
“Don’t dismiss local communities as NIMBYs [‘not in my backyard’]. That’s insulting,” Klein said. “When we lose the public’s trust, you lose the larger fight.”
That's right, don't call them NIMBYs.  Just call them misguided and misinformed.  That's not an insult at all, right?  Just keep telling them it's okay for you to stick your hand in their pants.
What you want
Baby, I got it
What you need
Do you know I got it?
R-E-S-P-E-C-T.  Real respect, not just lip service.  Go on... get outta here!
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    About the Author

    Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.
    In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history.

    About
    StopPATH Blog

    StopPATH Blog began as a forum for information and opinion about the PATH transmission project.  The PATH project was abandoned in 2012, however, this blog was not.

    StopPATH Blog continues to bring you energy policy news and opinion from a consumer's point of view.  If it's sometimes snarky and oftentimes irreverent, just remember that the truth isn't pretty.  People come here because they want the truth, instead of the usual dreadful lies this industry continues to tell itself.  If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.


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