Was it just last month that Invenergy told the Missouri legislature that it wasn't fair to change state law if it hurt their project?  Well, guess what?  Invenergy is busy trying to change state law in Illinois to help Grain Belt Express by allowing it to become a public utility so it may use eminent domain to site the project across Illinois.  Hypocrisy at its finest!

As many of you may remember, the Illinois courts vacated Grain Belt's permit (and eminent domain authority) several years ago because Grain Belt Express did not own any utility property in the state.  Because it did not own utility property, it was not a public utility, and because it wasn't a public utility it was not allowed to use eminent domain to acquire easements across private property.  Clean Line was unsuccessful in overturning this decision. 

However, Invenergy is attempting to change the law upon which the court's decision was based.  As part of an extensive new energy bill in Illinois, the following language changes have been proposed to the statute.

By changing the definition of public utility, Invenergy could be be a public utility now, if it only intends to own property later.  It merely has to apply at the ICC and receive a permit.  Our private property rights are under attack all across the Midwest by greedy merchant transmission developers who want to use your private property to make money on speculative renewable energy projects.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker says utilities did not write this energy bill.

So, we're supposed to believe that Invenergy did not have its thumb on this rather opportune language change?  Illinois is still reeling from a recent utility scandal where ComEd exerted undue influence on the state legislature.  It sure looks to me like Illinois has simply traded one utility master for another.  Instead of the legislature being under ComEd's thumb, now it's under Invenergy's thumb.

Something sure stinks in Springfield!

Invenergy wants to take the most profitable route for GBE, and that's using eminent domain to take private property across three states.  It doesn't want to fairly negotiate with landowners without the sledgehammer of eminent domain.  Here's another news flash:  eminent domain is not necessary to build merchant transmission!  When eminent domain for overhead merchant transmission was outlawed in Iowa several years ago, a better project emerged.  SOO Green Renewable Rail is developing a merchant transmission project buried its entire length on existing railroad rights of way.  No eminent domain!  No changing state law, no sacrifice from landowners.  It's a complete no-brainer!  Maybe Invenergy should make a better project instead of using its influence to manipulate state law for its own benefit?

Fortunately, the Illinois energy bill did not pass before the legislative session ended, however, there's talk that it may come to a vote in a few days, or maybe this month, or next month, nobody is really sure and reports change day by day.  If it does come to a vote, the public utility definition change needs to be stripped out.  Let Illinois legislators know!

Does Invenergy's legislative hypocrisy stick in your craw?  Want to do something about it?  Well, you can!  It's quick and easy, and probably extremely satisfying as well!  You don't have to be an Illinois resident to contact Illinois legislators.  The bigger the voice, the more impact it has! For complete instructions on who to call or write, visit BlockRICL or send an email to [email protected].

PJM's first Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee meeting since its ordered Transource Independence Energy Connection project was denied by the PA PUC veers off into the ridiculous.

While meeting materials show that PJM will engage in studies to see if any issues are created by removing the IEC from PJM's plan, PJM is wearing blinders on its journey there.

It seems IEC's construction schedule is being impacted due to the siting process.  I guess you could put it that way, since a denial by the PUC would prevent the project from being sited.... ever!  But never fear, a denial is only a "delay to the projected completion" in PJM's dream world.  They act like the PUC is going to change its mind somewhere down the road.  Of course, that is unlikely to happen.  But PJM wants to pretend it can happen.

PJM just cannot admit that the IEC project was a mistake from the very beginning.  PJM cannot admit that it made a mistake when it endlessly propped up the IEC project in the face of mounting evidence that it was too costly and wasn't needed.  PJM can never admit that its planning is fallible.

Here's PJM riding along on its bike of "need" for the IEC... until it hits the PA PUC speed bump.

PJM meant to do that.

Sure it did!

It's a new word for the bloviating nonsense spewed by Bill Gates' Macrogrid Initiative.

Bill Gates became rich selling crappy computer technology that enslaved the vast majority.  Now he thinks he's an expert on absolutely everything and dreams of taking over the world and remaking it to his own liking.  Money doesn't equal intelligence.  The only ones buying his schtick are the ones Bill is buying to carry it out.  The ordinary man is not impressed.  In fact, the ordinary man is positively revolted by the rich and powerful dictating every aspect of his life and finances.  The ordinary man will dig in his heels and oppose Bill's brain farts simply on general principles.  Bill's energy vision is no different.

Bill gathered all the best dreamers and schemers he could buy to sell his vision of top down big energy to the new Big Government bureaucrats hungry for power and prestige.  Obviously Bill isn't interested in selling his plan to the masses.  Perhaps he thinks that his Big Government can be used to stomp on the masses and drag them into an increasingly expensive and unreliable energy future controlled by the global elite?

Sorry, we're not on board.  In fact, we're going to fight, kick and scream the whole way.  And we're going to keep speaking truth to power until we get our way.

Big Government agency U.S. Department of Energy held a "summit" last week under the auspices of its ARPA-E program.  There, our Big Government "partnered" with Big Transmission and its bastard child "The Macrogrid Initiative" to tell us what we need "as a society."

The four words no for-profit industry should ever utter:

You're not part of our "society."  You have your own "society" of filthy rich folks who want to use us as a stepping stone to even more riches.  Any elite blowhard who utters these words is displaying his own arrogance.  It is SOCIETY that decides what we need "as a society," not elite dictators.  Saying these words guarantees that society will fight you tooth and nail.

And that's exactly what's going to happen to Bill's Macrogrid Initiative.  Having a dream to build a gigantic, new electric grid is one thing; getting there is another.  There's a fork in the road, and Bill and his cabal have veered off onto the wrong path.

Two options:

1.  Innovate new energy solutions that would be accepted by society.

2.  Use old energy solutions that are highly profitable and attempt to force them on society.

One path requires more money upfront but guarantees smooth sailing on the back end.  The other requires no effort in the beginning, but will flounder endlessly when rejected by society.  You'd think Bill would be smart enough to know the difference, but perhaps his arrogance gets in the way?

The only way we as a society are going to allow an energy transition is if it does not impact the sanctity of our homes and empty our wallets.  Otherwise, get ready for eternal, entrenched opposition from society.  We're not docile sheep, in fact you're probably going to be surprised by the virulence we can muster when threatened.

Alter regulation to increase your profits and decrease society's rights?  I don't think so.  In fact, you might even get surprised by some regulatory virulence if you keep trying to stuff your arrogant ideas down that pipe.

Regulation is for benefit of society.  It's not for the purpose of increasing utility power and profits.  Regulators serve ME, not YOU.  We as a society have created a regulatory paradigm that cannot be dismantled or it will cease to exist and become nothing more than a political-corporate dictatorship that does not protect consumers.  Regulation was formed to protect consumers from corporations, not the other way around.  Are we going to need regulators to protect us from the regulators?  Or are we going to need a revolution?

It's not that great a stretch these days for the people to disconnect from the bloated energy bureaucracy and make their own energy.  What good is a kingdom with no subjects?

Game on, Bill!

In a recent article in NPR, a spokeswoman for Cardinal Hickory Creek transmission line accuses the Environmental Law and Policy Center of being "contradictory."  Strip away all the weasel words and she says that they're hypocrites.  If the ELPC supports "clean energy" it must also support Big Transmission.

After years of supporting Big Transmission like Clean Line Energy Partners, ELPC got transmission woke when a Big Transmission project "for renewables" got sited in its own backyard.  This is undeniable reality:  People don't like renewables when infrastructure to support it gets sited in their own backyard.

ELPC's wokeism spurred an organizational change to supporting "no wires alternatives", such as advanced transmission technology that makes better use of existing transmission.  ELPC still supports "clean energy", but it does so while recognizing the environmental damage caused by Big Transmission.  Is this hypocrisy?  Or the beginning of a sensible new trend where big green becomes transmission woke?

Big Transmission as the solution to "climate change" is headed towards oblivion.  The more gigantic projects they dream up, the better the odds that one of them will get dangerously close to the places environmental groups hold dear.  Already, having an environmental hypocrite like ELPC in their nest is causing great concern.  The wokeism is only going to spread, because once you get transmission woke, there's simply no going back.  Landowners will NEVER change their minds and welcome new overhead transmission for renewables.  No matter what the transmission profiteers propose, and no matter how much OPM* (Other People's Money) they spend "incentivizing"** transmission, they are simply spinning their wheels.  Opposition will continue, and increase, including opposition from environmental groups.

NPR says that Cardinal Hickory Creek is in trouble, and the trouble is coming from ELPC, the only party with the resources to drag it through the courts.  Bravo!  However, it also demonstrates one of the foundational tenets of transmission opposition, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."  For years, big green fought against transmission when they thought it was "for coal."  Now that it's supposed to be "for renewables", big green loves transmission.  Is this hypocritical?  You bet'cha!  ELPC demonstrates that it isn't about transmission at all, but about environmentalism.  Isn't it time that big green goes back to its roots and stops being a well-funded patsy for an increasingly greedy energy industry?  See tenet above.  A landowner is likely to get whiplash from the changing transmission policies of big green.

Environmental groups in New England are at war against each other over the Big Transmission project New England Clean Energy Connect.   ELPC is not alone, the wokeism is blossoming, along with the finger pointing and claims of hypocrisy.

Why does this swirling sea of transmission frenemies matter?  Because it further degrades the pedestal of moral superiority to which Big Transmission has ascended by making it murkier and less trusted.  Landowners have long been suspicious of the regulatory process that approves or denies Big Transmission.  Is it really about transmission being needed, or is it simply about buying influence and political support?

A Wisconsin judge summed it up recently when ruling on a claim of bias by the state PSC in the Cardinal Hickory Creek approval:

Wise words that should be applied universally these days.  We all know what you're doing behind closed doors and we simply don't trust you.