This Farm Is For Those Who Worked On It

Where was Invenergy when Missouri farmers worked their farms?  Marilyn Smith wants to know.

Smith says it is unfair for farmers to have their land used against their consent when they are the ones who have maintained the land for decades. 

"They weren't here when we were bringing in the crops in the fall," Smith said. "They weren't here when my family was bringing in the cows and vaccinating them. They weren't here for planting."

They also weren't there when we did without to make the farm payment and spent the money to nurture and conserve the soil, said another Missouri farmer.  Invenergy wasn't there when any work got done, but now they want to profit from the use of Missouri farmers' land.  Invenergy wants to take easements through hundreds of Missouri farms to use for its for-profit transmission line.  The Little Red Hens of Missouri say

...farmers have earned the right to manage their land as they see fit. “We like to be able to look out at see this without any big power lines,” Smith said.

And it's just not about looks.  Transmission line easements across farms take land out of production and make farming more difficult and expensive.  More costs for Missouri farmers, more profits for Invenergy.

HANDS OFF!

Invenergy purports that Grain Belt Express will bring the lowest cost power in the nation to Missouri.  Except it would do so only if Missouri power companies choose to purchase power from generators in Kansas and ship it to Missouri on an exorbitantly expensive $5.7B transmission line.  All  of a sudden, that "cheap" power from far away gets more expensive than power produced locally that doesn't need a new transmission line to get to Missouri.  Is $5.7B a big price tag for a transmission line?  Compare to MISO's recently approved plan for numerous new transmission lines to move renewable power across the Midwest at a cost of $10.3B.

Seems like MISO's lines are doing more for less.  This is the pivotal question nobody seems to be asking lately:  Is renewable energy delivered on new MISO lines cheaper for Missouri electric customers than Kansas power delivered via Grain Belt Express?  And here's the thing... Missouri electric customers are on the hook to pay for MISO's new plan, whether they use it or not.  So, $10.3B for MISO PLUS $5.7B for Grain Belt Express, or simply $10.3B for MISO.  Who would want to pay more?

Maybe Ray McCarty, the president and CEO of the Associated Industries of Missouri, who voiced a bunch of misinformed contentions about Grain Belt Express in the news article.  McCarty says,

"Some farmers are not necessarily going to want this going across their farms, but others are going to welcome the opportunity because they could make some additional money for the rights of way," McCarty said.

If there are landowners who welcome this intrusion into their business, where are they?  The reporter didn't seem to be able to find any, just the assurances of McCarty that they exist.  Landowner Marilyn Smith says

"If you ask any farmer, they will tell you they can't pay me enough to put that line through my farm," Smith said. 

There it is.  A farmer who says the land isn't for sale at any price, against a fictional farmer who welcomes it.  The welcoming farmer simply doesn't exist.

McCarty is also misinformed about need for Grain Belt Express.  He said

"And also understand that it may help them get out of a jam if they’re able to get power from that source when otherwise they wouldn’t be able to."

McCarty says projects like the Grain Belt Express are necessities to several parts of the community. 

"Electricity is an essential commodity," McCarty said. "We have to have it to run our farms, we have to have it to run our businesses, we have to have it in our homes."

McCarty and his neighbors already have plentiful electricity produced at local power plants that provide jobs and tax revenue to Missouri communities.  I can't find anything that says McCarty has any expertise in electric engineering -- he's just one of the folks who flips a switch and expects the lights to go on.  Fact:  Grain Belt Express is an optional merchant transmission project that has absolutely NOTHING to do with reliable power or helping farmers "out of a jam" when they can't get power for their farm.

Furthermore, I'm up to my ears in ridiculous claims that Grain Belt is going to "drop off" power in Missouri.  Stop saying that!  It demonstrates your complete ignorance of all things electric.  It's not like GBE is giving electricity to Missouri, like a home-baked pie left on their doorstep.  It's a merchant project and the only recipients are the ones who PAY for it.  It's not "drop off", it's purchase.  Missouri is getting nothing from GBE unless someone makes a purchase.  Currently, GBE only has one customer for just 10% of its available capacity.  There is no "drop off" of 2500 MW.  There is only availability to purchase 2250 MW.

The new "Tiger Connector" may just be the straw that breaks the camel's back.  Invenergy says

The Tiger Connector would expand the reach of the Grain Belt Express in Missouri by bringing power from the main line in northern Missouri to the McCredie Substation in Callaway County, which would send that energy out to thousands more Missouri homes and businesses. 

The "reach" was always there.  GBE always planned to make purchase available at a converter station that could be located somewhere along the DC portion of the line.  The fact is that the connection GBE historically planned to make wasn't feasible.  Without Tiger Connector, GBE has no place to connect to the existing transmission system in Missouri.  But instead of re-routing the DC line to connect at a stronger point of the existing grid, Invenergy decided to add a 40-mile AC connector to get from the DC line in Monroe County to the McCredie Substation in Callaway County.  Having the Tiger Connector only helps Invenergy, it doesn't help any customers in Missouri.  Without Tiger Connector, GBE's plans simply fall apart because it cannot connect. 

Grain Belt Express is the poster child for the stupidity of approving speculative transmission projects without confirmed interconnections or customers.  GBE was nothing but a speculative idea for a transmission project, but yet the PSC permitted it and allowed Invenergy to condemn private property.  GBE's plan was never fully formed, as other non-merchant transmission projects are.  Other transmission projects have confirmed connection points, a need verified by independent grid planners, and customers to buy the electricity.  Grain Belt Express still doesn't have that.  How many times is the speculative GBE project going to change, and how much more is it going to take from Missourians, before its plan is complete?

Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me!