Invenergy has been trying to build its merchant transmission Cimarron Link project since at least summer of 2023. That's when its courting of landowners was brought to my attention. It is likely that it has been in the works much longer.
A merchant transmission project is to transmission what a private toll road is to transportation. There is an existing network of electric transmission lines that serve all public utilities that provide service to all who request it. Because this is a public network (compare to a public highway) everyone who takes electric service pays a portion of constructing the network and keeping it operating. Our tax money pays to keep our highways maintained for everyone's use. But a merchant transmission project is a supplemental, speculative transmission line. It is not necessary for public utility service and it is not subsidized through our electric bills. It's a private electric toll road to ship electricity that is paid for by the electricity wholesalers who choose to use the private roadway to receive electricity they purchase from generators. A merchant transmission line relies on voluntary customers to pay for its construction and operation. If a merchant transmission project doesn't have any paying customers, it's not economic and cannot be built. It is a speculative investment by private companies who want to bet that if they construct it, it will attract paying customers. Much like a private toll road highway, it is not for the use of the general public, but only those who can pay the toll to use it.
Cimarron Link is a merchant transmission project. It is not needed for reliability or economic purposes, and it is not part of any transmission plan by regional grid operator Southwest Power Pool. It's "need" would only come from paying customers who want to use it. But Cimarron Link doesn't have any customers! Therefore it applied to receive a capacity contract from the U.S. Department of Energy, and it was awarded such a contract in 2024.
The capacity contract is essentially the U.S. government using taxpayer dollars to pay the "toll" on Cimarron Link. But the government isn't a public utility and does not supply electricity to anyone. The idea is that the government will underwrite the cost of constructing the project with the hope of re-selling the ability to use the toll road to an actual utility somewhere down the line. Of course, anyone could sign up to pay the toll now, but they haven't. If they don't want to use Cimarron Link now, what's the chances that they will want to pay the toll later, after the project is constructed? There is no precedent for this new capacity contract program and it is unproven that it will actually work. If it doesn't, the government will continue to pay the toll for Cimarron Link for up to 40 years in the future, even though it is not actually using it, and Cimarron Link may never deliver any electrons to anyone. The government is acting as a speculative investor, betting that it can sell something that Cimarron Link cannot. Good luck with that!
So, Cimarron Link lined up at the hog trough to help itself to a $306M capacity contract. While it was filling its belly, it also thought that maybe a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor would taste good, so it applied for one of those as well. A NIETC would have been a federal land use designation that created a zone for construction of Cimarron Link and would make it eligible for federal permitting and eminent domain if not granted by the State of Oklahoma. But that didn't work out. The U.S. Department of Energy cancelled the proposed Delta-Plains NIETC that Cimarron Link wanted to use to route its project across Oklahoma. Now Cimarron Link can only use Oklahoma laws to try to take property using eminent domain. If Oklahoma does not grant Cimarron Link eminent domain authority, the project is essentially dead. Sure, Cimarron Link can continue to try to obtain voluntary easements across private property, but if the landowner refuses, that's the end of it.
Which brings us to Cimarron Link's recent suits against landowners to obtain an injunction allowing Cimarron Link to enter private property to perform "surveys" against the landowner's wishes. When it filed its lawsuits, Cimarron Link claimed it was "authorized to exercise the power of eminent domain for the appropriation and use of lands and rights-of-way necessary for a public purpose by law specifically, Tit. 27 Okla. Stat. Sec. 7 and Tit. 66 Okla. Stat. Sec. 51-60." Cimarron Link claimed it was a corporation that was engaged in the transmission of electricity in Oklahoma. But is it really? Not right now it isn't. It's not furnishing anything to anyone. But it wants to do so. So, it's not really clear that Cimarron Link's speculative merchant transmission project is authorized to use eminent domain.
Now, maybe Cimarron Link thought it would be easy to convince a local judge that it currently has that ability so that it could force its way onto private property to do surveys for its transmission project. But the people fought back and said it did not have that authority under state law.
Maybe Cimarron Link thought it could continue operating under the radar long enough to get such a determination by a local court, but that idea ended when it got too greedy and helped itself to a NIETC designation. The people of Oklahoma found out about that, and they were incensed. Huge opposition to the NIETC soon developed and all of a sudden people stopped cooperating with Cimarron Link. The sleepy days of keeping quiet and bullying landowners to sign voluntary easements are over. Now Cimarron Link has a huge problem on its hands. It is not clear that Cimarron Link has eminent domain authority, and the people are refusing to sign voluntary easements. Cimarron Link's little piggy has eaten itself into a full-blown HOG, and we all know what happens to hogs... they end up on the dinner table!
Perhaps sensing that its effort to convince a court that it has eminent domain authority wouldn't be successful, Cimarron Link recently withdrew its suits for entry against landowners. But it did so without prejudice, which means Cimarron Link reserves the right to bring this issue before the courts in the future. Cimarron Link said it was withdrawing its suits to "allow more time for engagement with landowners." Well, good luck with that, Cimarron Link, landowners have formed a wall of resistance and are having none of that, thanks to the opposition that developed during the NIETC debacle. Word has it that Cimarron Link is trying to move on to adjacent landowners and begin its game on a new, unsuspecting public, but is that really going to be successful in the new public relations disaster environment that NIETCs created? What other tricks might Cimarron Link have up its sleeve?
Cimarron Link is a project owned by Invenergy, a private energy firm based in Chicago. Invenergy has invested in several merchant transmission projects around the country. One of its projects, the Grain Belt Express, was rejected by Illinois courts because it wasn't a public utility with the ability to use eminent domain. Illinois law required that a public utility actually be currently engaged in the business of furnishing power in order to file an application to build a transmission line that could use eminent domain to acquire land. Like Cimarron Link, Grain Belt Express was a speculative project by a new entity that was not a public utility. But Invenergy found a way around that by creating bespoke, special purpose legislation that granted it eminent domain authority in a handful of counties it wanted to cross and allowed it to apply for a permit. This special purpose legislation was tucked neatly into the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), an energy bill that comprised thousands of pages and was dumped on the legislature just hours before the vote, making sure that legislators didn't have time to even read it before voting. As a result, the legislation passed, and Grain Belt Express was suddenly a public utility that could use eminent domain to acquire land for its merchant transmission project. Now, I'm not saying that Invenergy's fattened hog is going to use the same tactic in Oklahoma to ensure it has the power of eminent domain before re-filing its suits to enter and take land for Cimarron Link, but it's certainly possible. Keep an eye on what's happening at the Oklahoma legislature this year! And while you're keeping an eye out for amendments to Oklahoma eminent domain laws, perhaps you might want to propose some of your own?
Thanks to the NIETC public relations disaster, landowners are talking to each other and comparing notes about the things they have been told by Cimarron Link. And, if any of the things I have heard are true... shame on you, Cimarron Link! Invenergy's Grain Belt Express project has a "Code of Conduct for Land Agents" that set some ground rules for interaction with landowners. Oklahoma landowners might be quite shocked to find out which tactics are not allowed on a different Invenergy merchant transmission project. Why isn't Invenergy using this same Code for the Cimarron Link? Don't Oklahoma landowners deserve the same respect and honesty as the landowners in Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois who are targeted by Grain Belt Express? Maybe someone wants to ask Invenergy why it doesn't have a Code of Conduct for Cimarron Link?
Cimarron Link's little piggie ate too many government handouts and has now turned into a full blown hog. Everything was going great until Cimarron Link ate that NIETC dangling over its trough. Cimarron Link brought this public relations disaster upon itself, and now it has to pay the consequences.
A merchant transmission project is to transmission what a private toll road is to transportation. There is an existing network of electric transmission lines that serve all public utilities that provide service to all who request it. Because this is a public network (compare to a public highway) everyone who takes electric service pays a portion of constructing the network and keeping it operating. Our tax money pays to keep our highways maintained for everyone's use. But a merchant transmission project is a supplemental, speculative transmission line. It is not necessary for public utility service and it is not subsidized through our electric bills. It's a private electric toll road to ship electricity that is paid for by the electricity wholesalers who choose to use the private roadway to receive electricity they purchase from generators. A merchant transmission line relies on voluntary customers to pay for its construction and operation. If a merchant transmission project doesn't have any paying customers, it's not economic and cannot be built. It is a speculative investment by private companies who want to bet that if they construct it, it will attract paying customers. Much like a private toll road highway, it is not for the use of the general public, but only those who can pay the toll to use it.
Cimarron Link is a merchant transmission project. It is not needed for reliability or economic purposes, and it is not part of any transmission plan by regional grid operator Southwest Power Pool. It's "need" would only come from paying customers who want to use it. But Cimarron Link doesn't have any customers! Therefore it applied to receive a capacity contract from the U.S. Department of Energy, and it was awarded such a contract in 2024.
The capacity contract is essentially the U.S. government using taxpayer dollars to pay the "toll" on Cimarron Link. But the government isn't a public utility and does not supply electricity to anyone. The idea is that the government will underwrite the cost of constructing the project with the hope of re-selling the ability to use the toll road to an actual utility somewhere down the line. Of course, anyone could sign up to pay the toll now, but they haven't. If they don't want to use Cimarron Link now, what's the chances that they will want to pay the toll later, after the project is constructed? There is no precedent for this new capacity contract program and it is unproven that it will actually work. If it doesn't, the government will continue to pay the toll for Cimarron Link for up to 40 years in the future, even though it is not actually using it, and Cimarron Link may never deliver any electrons to anyone. The government is acting as a speculative investor, betting that it can sell something that Cimarron Link cannot. Good luck with that!
So, Cimarron Link lined up at the hog trough to help itself to a $306M capacity contract. While it was filling its belly, it also thought that maybe a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor would taste good, so it applied for one of those as well. A NIETC would have been a federal land use designation that created a zone for construction of Cimarron Link and would make it eligible for federal permitting and eminent domain if not granted by the State of Oklahoma. But that didn't work out. The U.S. Department of Energy cancelled the proposed Delta-Plains NIETC that Cimarron Link wanted to use to route its project across Oklahoma. Now Cimarron Link can only use Oklahoma laws to try to take property using eminent domain. If Oklahoma does not grant Cimarron Link eminent domain authority, the project is essentially dead. Sure, Cimarron Link can continue to try to obtain voluntary easements across private property, but if the landowner refuses, that's the end of it.
Which brings us to Cimarron Link's recent suits against landowners to obtain an injunction allowing Cimarron Link to enter private property to perform "surveys" against the landowner's wishes. When it filed its lawsuits, Cimarron Link claimed it was "authorized to exercise the power of eminent domain for the appropriation and use of lands and rights-of-way necessary for a public purpose by law specifically, Tit. 27 Okla. Stat. Sec. 7 and Tit. 66 Okla. Stat. Sec. 51-60." Cimarron Link claimed it was a corporation that was engaged in the transmission of electricity in Oklahoma. But is it really? Not right now it isn't. It's not furnishing anything to anyone. But it wants to do so. So, it's not really clear that Cimarron Link's speculative merchant transmission project is authorized to use eminent domain.
Now, maybe Cimarron Link thought it would be easy to convince a local judge that it currently has that ability so that it could force its way onto private property to do surveys for its transmission project. But the people fought back and said it did not have that authority under state law.
Maybe Cimarron Link thought it could continue operating under the radar long enough to get such a determination by a local court, but that idea ended when it got too greedy and helped itself to a NIETC designation. The people of Oklahoma found out about that, and they were incensed. Huge opposition to the NIETC soon developed and all of a sudden people stopped cooperating with Cimarron Link. The sleepy days of keeping quiet and bullying landowners to sign voluntary easements are over. Now Cimarron Link has a huge problem on its hands. It is not clear that Cimarron Link has eminent domain authority, and the people are refusing to sign voluntary easements. Cimarron Link's little piggy has eaten itself into a full-blown HOG, and we all know what happens to hogs... they end up on the dinner table!
Perhaps sensing that its effort to convince a court that it has eminent domain authority wouldn't be successful, Cimarron Link recently withdrew its suits for entry against landowners. But it did so without prejudice, which means Cimarron Link reserves the right to bring this issue before the courts in the future. Cimarron Link said it was withdrawing its suits to "allow more time for engagement with landowners." Well, good luck with that, Cimarron Link, landowners have formed a wall of resistance and are having none of that, thanks to the opposition that developed during the NIETC debacle. Word has it that Cimarron Link is trying to move on to adjacent landowners and begin its game on a new, unsuspecting public, but is that really going to be successful in the new public relations disaster environment that NIETCs created? What other tricks might Cimarron Link have up its sleeve?
Cimarron Link is a project owned by Invenergy, a private energy firm based in Chicago. Invenergy has invested in several merchant transmission projects around the country. One of its projects, the Grain Belt Express, was rejected by Illinois courts because it wasn't a public utility with the ability to use eminent domain. Illinois law required that a public utility actually be currently engaged in the business of furnishing power in order to file an application to build a transmission line that could use eminent domain to acquire land. Like Cimarron Link, Grain Belt Express was a speculative project by a new entity that was not a public utility. But Invenergy found a way around that by creating bespoke, special purpose legislation that granted it eminent domain authority in a handful of counties it wanted to cross and allowed it to apply for a permit. This special purpose legislation was tucked neatly into the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), an energy bill that comprised thousands of pages and was dumped on the legislature just hours before the vote, making sure that legislators didn't have time to even read it before voting. As a result, the legislation passed, and Grain Belt Express was suddenly a public utility that could use eminent domain to acquire land for its merchant transmission project. Now, I'm not saying that Invenergy's fattened hog is going to use the same tactic in Oklahoma to ensure it has the power of eminent domain before re-filing its suits to enter and take land for Cimarron Link, but it's certainly possible. Keep an eye on what's happening at the Oklahoma legislature this year! And while you're keeping an eye out for amendments to Oklahoma eminent domain laws, perhaps you might want to propose some of your own?
Thanks to the NIETC public relations disaster, landowners are talking to each other and comparing notes about the things they have been told by Cimarron Link. And, if any of the things I have heard are true... shame on you, Cimarron Link! Invenergy's Grain Belt Express project has a "Code of Conduct for Land Agents" that set some ground rules for interaction with landowners. Oklahoma landowners might be quite shocked to find out which tactics are not allowed on a different Invenergy merchant transmission project. Why isn't Invenergy using this same Code for the Cimarron Link? Don't Oklahoma landowners deserve the same respect and honesty as the landowners in Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois who are targeted by Grain Belt Express? Maybe someone wants to ask Invenergy why it doesn't have a Code of Conduct for Cimarron Link?
Cimarron Link's little piggie ate too many government handouts and has now turned into a full blown hog. Everything was going great until Cimarron Link ate that NIETC dangling over its trough. Cimarron Link brought this public relations disaster upon itself, and now it has to pay the consequences.
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