Said Missouri attorney Brent Haden about Grain Belt Express using eminent domain to acquire land in another great article in The Mexico Ledger:
“If the shoe were on the other foot, would Invenergy or its executives consent to a forced sale of their property to Missouri farmers and ranchers? We could run cow-calf pairs on their lawns in Chicago, and they’d probably even come out ahead on mowing cost. But something tells me they might feel differently about the eminent domain doctrine if that were the proposal.
Indeed they would. Eminent domain is only good for thee, not for me. My only question is... which home, and could the cows drink from the pool? It looks like Michael Polsky has more than one home. This is where your blood, sweat and tears is going to end up if Invenergy gets its way in Missouri... in a fancy mansion that is hardly lived in?
Alan Dale also wrote about a citizens' protest at the PSC in Jefferson City this week (more about that next blog). Protest organizer Pat Stemme said:
Alan Dale also wrote about a citizens' protest at the PSC in Jefferson City this week (more about that next blog). Protest organizer Pat Stemme said:
“I am a farm wife, and we live in Boone County, but our farms are in Audrain and Callaway,” Stemme said. “There are several residents from Audrain that will be attending the protest. I don’t have the commissioners schedule, so I don’t know if they will be in house or not. It doesn’t matter: We will still be able to get our message across, that we are opposed to any decision that allows the Tiger Belt (Connector) to move forward. I don’t feel the (House Bill) 2005 is very comforting. Our Fifth Amendment rights are being abused.
“The PSC has no agricultural representation. They also have no oversight.”
According to Stemme’s press release announcing the protest, Invenergy proposes to add a “completely unnecessary” 40-mile double circuit 345-kV electric transmission line on a destructive course that would impact prime farmland that is presently producing crops for ethanol and biodiesel. These valuable farms are helping reduce emissions in St. Louis, Columbia and Kansas City.
Stemme noted that Invenergy has only revealed customers for less than 10 percent of its planned delivery to Missouri.
“As a merchant transmission project, the company cannot charge captive ratepayers for its project and can only recover its costs from voluntary customers,” the press release states. “Without customers, there is no revenue to pay for the project.”
Stemme’s press release adds, “The PSC’s prior granting of a permit and eminent domain to Grain Belt’s speculative plan have directly caused the Tiger Connector proposal by encouraging the company to take land for a route that has now changed and must be extended into Audrain and Callaway in order to connect with Missouri’s electric grid. Without an approved grid interconnection and enough customers to pay for its construction, Grain Belt Express remains nothing more than speculation and could change again in the future.”
That's a word of caution for the Missouri PSC. Without an approved interconnection from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) Grain Belt Express cannot connect its transmission line to the existing electric system. Without an interconnection, it's just an extension cord that's not plugged into anything. Simply planning to connect somewhere is not good enough. GBE was planning to connect to a transmission line in Ralls County for many years. But when Invenergy bought the project, it filed for new interconnections in Callaway County. If Grain Belt Express had connected as originally planned, the Tiger Connector would not be happening. And who's to say that Invenergy won't change its mind again and decide to interconnect at a different place, and then run lines from Callaway to another point of interconnection? Because it's not like Grain Belt Express re-routes its project when it chooses to change its interconnection. Instead, it just adds more electric lines across private property. When you've been granted the ability to simply TAKE private property from taxpaying citizens, it doesn't matter how many people you affect.
Another warning: lack of customers. Grain Belt Express WILL NOT BE BUILT if it cannot find customers to pay for its transmission line. Unlike the rest of the lines in Missouri today that are ordered by MISO to meet a reliability or economic need, Grain Belt is strictly a voluntary project undertaken at the company's risk. Invenergy is risking its capital on the project and betting that customers who need transmission service from Southwestern Kansas to Callaway County, and from Callaway County to Indiana (or SW Kansas to Indiana) will be willing to pay to use the project at a rate that is profitable. However, even though GBE has been on the drawing board and trying to find customers for a decade, it only has one customer. That one customer is the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission, or MJMEUC, a a joint action agency comprised of 70 municipally-owned, retail electric systems located across the state of Missouri. After Grain Belt's first application was rejected by the PSC in 2015 because it caused more harm to Missouri landowners than it provided in benefits to the citizens, Grain Belt offered MJMEUC a fabulous deal. It offered MJMEUC "up to 200 MW" of transmission capacity from Kansas to Missouri at less than cost. MJMEUC still had to buy electricity generated in Kansas to transmit to Missouri, but it was a "free lunch" MJMEUC simply couldn't resist. MJMEUC bought something like 135 MW of wind power from a wind farm in Kansas (contingent upon GBE being built) and claimed the deal saved millions for customers in 39 Missouri cities. Of course, the devil is in the details, or in this instance in the math equation that produced the savings. MJMEUC compared the cost of GBE + the cost of the Kansas wind power to an overpriced contract it was locked into to buy electricity from Prairie State in Illinois. The new power would replace the Prairie State contract that would expire in 2021.
What year is this? Oh, right, it's 2022. That Illinois contract expired last year and GBE was not built and could not replace it. So, what did MJMEUC replace that contract with? Obviously the lights are still on in 39 cities, so it must have signed a new contract with a new supplier. So, how much does GBE "save" when compared with that new contract, or even with any other existing contracts that are due to expire soon? And where's the math for that? Guess what? MJMEUC and Grain Belt refuse to do the math. They continue to cling to the previous "savings" calculated more than 5 years ago and claim that's how much utility customers would "save." But it's now nothing but a BIG FAT LIE. Show us your "savings" math, MJMEUC!
Instead of continuing this speculative gamble with the lives and fortunes of Missourians, the PSC must reject Tiger Connector's application and tell them to stay away until they have signed interconnections that firm up the route, and enough customers to finance the project.
Another warning: lack of customers. Grain Belt Express WILL NOT BE BUILT if it cannot find customers to pay for its transmission line. Unlike the rest of the lines in Missouri today that are ordered by MISO to meet a reliability or economic need, Grain Belt is strictly a voluntary project undertaken at the company's risk. Invenergy is risking its capital on the project and betting that customers who need transmission service from Southwestern Kansas to Callaway County, and from Callaway County to Indiana (or SW Kansas to Indiana) will be willing to pay to use the project at a rate that is profitable. However, even though GBE has been on the drawing board and trying to find customers for a decade, it only has one customer. That one customer is the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission, or MJMEUC, a a joint action agency comprised of 70 municipally-owned, retail electric systems located across the state of Missouri. After Grain Belt's first application was rejected by the PSC in 2015 because it caused more harm to Missouri landowners than it provided in benefits to the citizens, Grain Belt offered MJMEUC a fabulous deal. It offered MJMEUC "up to 200 MW" of transmission capacity from Kansas to Missouri at less than cost. MJMEUC still had to buy electricity generated in Kansas to transmit to Missouri, but it was a "free lunch" MJMEUC simply couldn't resist. MJMEUC bought something like 135 MW of wind power from a wind farm in Kansas (contingent upon GBE being built) and claimed the deal saved millions for customers in 39 Missouri cities. Of course, the devil is in the details, or in this instance in the math equation that produced the savings. MJMEUC compared the cost of GBE + the cost of the Kansas wind power to an overpriced contract it was locked into to buy electricity from Prairie State in Illinois. The new power would replace the Prairie State contract that would expire in 2021.
What year is this? Oh, right, it's 2022. That Illinois contract expired last year and GBE was not built and could not replace it. So, what did MJMEUC replace that contract with? Obviously the lights are still on in 39 cities, so it must have signed a new contract with a new supplier. So, how much does GBE "save" when compared with that new contract, or even with any other existing contracts that are due to expire soon? And where's the math for that? Guess what? MJMEUC and Grain Belt refuse to do the math. They continue to cling to the previous "savings" calculated more than 5 years ago and claim that's how much utility customers would "save." But it's now nothing but a BIG FAT LIE. Show us your "savings" math, MJMEUC!
Instead of continuing this speculative gamble with the lives and fortunes of Missourians, the PSC must reject Tiger Connector's application and tell them to stay away until they have signed interconnections that firm up the route, and enough customers to finance the project.
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