Randolph County Commissioners Spill Truth About GBE

Here's a very well-written article about GBE's recent antics in Randolph County, Missouri.  Leave it to the local media to actually tell a little truth!

The first truth is that the amendments to Missouri eminent domain law made by the legislature this session aren't applicable to Grain Belt Express.  The legislature did NOTHING to protect these landowners.  It just tossed them under the bus to slow it down a bit for the rest of the traffic.

Missouri House Bill 2005 has been heralded as a win for farmers facing eminent domain from transmission line companies, but it won’t protect Randolph County farmers from the Grain Belt Express, Randolph County Commissioners said Monday.

But Commissioners John Truesdell, John Hobbs and John Tracy said the bill won’t affect eminent domain proceedings brought by Invenergy Transmission for its Grain Belt Express, a new long-distance transmission line in the works for the past 10 years.

The new law will not help farmers keep their land. “Grain Belt is not affected by this,” said Hobbs. “I, myself, say it’s hogwash. It’s not protecting the farmers on Grain Belt. It’s protecting the farmers for anything after Grain Belt.”

And maybe not even as good as Grain Belt... since GBE's permit requires the company to give condemned easements back to the landowners after 5 years in the event it does not have financing, while the new "protective" legislation allows 7 years.  Yeah, protect those landowners with new legislation!

The second truth is that merchant transmission owner Invenergy does not have enough customers for this project.  No customers, no revenue, no financing, no project.  (More on this in my next blog, you won't believe what's turned up!)

But Randolph County Commissioners say the company isn’t following normal procedure and has not contracted with local energy companies to provide energy at lower costs.

“You have to drop something of value in Missouri before you can do eminent domain,” Truesdell said. But the commissioners say they have yet to hear of any local utility company that has contracted with Grain Belt to move their product.

“I haven’t heard from the county coop that we’re going to get any energy,” Hobbs said.

There also aren't any local jobs or other benefits.

Ivenergy says Grain Belt Express will play a major role in economic recovery and growth in the Midwest by delivering thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in energy savings, and tens of millions of dollars for local communities and landowners.

Randolph County Commissioners say they haven’t seen any contracts or data that make them believe that.

The Commissioners also share about Invenergy beginning construction work without proof of financing, something its PSC permit prohibits.

The company also has to have a financial plan, which it doesn’t have, said Truesdell. “We have a lot of red flags in Randolph County.”
Though the company doesn’t have permission from Randolph County, it has started construction off Highway 3, Truesdell said. “It’s how they do business.”
Randolph County filed a moratorium to stop work until Grain Belt complies with all regulations, said Truesdell.
“They went in and did some dirt work,” said Hobbs. The landowners signed a contract with the company.

Invenergy is literally trying to bulldoze its way through Missouri, even though it cannot construct anything in Kansas or Illinois.  What's the point?  Who builds a transmission line that doesn't connect with anything on either end?

Maybe it's this kind of company...

“They didn’t act like any other utility company we’ve ever dealt with,” said Truesdell in May. The company struggles with communication; one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing, he said.
A little over two years ago, Grain Belt was supposed to come visit with the commissioners, said Truesdell. It never did. The company has to have approval from the county to begin construction, which it doesn’t have, he said.

It's all a very precarious house of cards.