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Permitting Reform is Dead... For Now

9/28/2022

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Can you believe it, boys and girls, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin traded his Senate seat for absolutely nothing.  There's no way he's going to get re-elected after this disaster.  He voted for way too much government spending on nonsense that did nothing for West Virginia.  His backroom deal fell through.  He's toast at the next election.  I guess he's ready to retire.  Buh-bye, Teflon Joe.  At the end, something did finally stick to you.  You know how being Teflon is... after it poisoned West Virginians for so many years, eventually it came to the end of the road.

So, can this be a lesson for eager Congress critters who stupidly put up legislation written by lobbyists for companies who stand to profit from it?  Cut it out.  Even though those lobbyists pretend they know what they're talking about, they have no flipping clue.  Remember all the crap in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Joe, that you tried to use to encourage transmission across West Virginia so you could unconstitutionally tax it?  Yeah, turns out none of that was constitutional at all.

Same for your late great idea to make transmission FERC jurisdictional, and order FERC to cost allocate it and allow recovery of bribes.  It can't work with existing regulations.  You're attempting to completely upend the current system.  But what happens is that you just make agencies like FERC chase their tail uselessly so that nothing ever gets accomplished.

Case in point... FERC has been working on a Rulemaking for cybersecurity incentives since 2020.  But then the "Infrastructure and Jobs Act" happened last year.
The IJA wrote in a requirement for cybersecurity incentives along with prescriptive requirements that didn't work with FERC's existing proceeding.  Last week, FERC threw the existing proceeding out and opened a new one.  The new one gives utilities an opportunity to put certain cybersecurity expenses into an account that can earn a return for up to 5 years.  During that time, the utility can add 2 percentage points to the return it earns on those investments.  Such a deal!

Said FERC Commissioner Mark Christie:
“There’s a reason why these adders have come to be known as ‘FERC candy,’” Christie said. “They’re really sweet for those who get it, but not the consumers who have to pay for it.”
It seems that FERC didn't love the requirements in the IJA.  I'm sure they're not going to love the stuff that happens resulting from the IRA, and they would have positively hated the pure, unadulterated poop that was in Joe Manchin's permitting reform.

There's a reason a group of destructive crows is called a congress.
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Permitting Pandemonium and Manchin Misinformation

9/27/2022

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Today's news says a vote to test the waters on whether Manchin's "permitting reform" bill attached to the continuing resolution to fund the federal government will be held tonight.  If it doesn't get enough support to pass, then some hard choices will have to be made.  Personally, I'm a fan of shutting down the federal government.  I doubt anyone will miss that bloated freedom forestaller which has intruded way, way, way too far into our lives lately.  Shutting down the windbag prevaricators for a couple months is probably good medicine for out-of-control, power hungry egos.

But what IS "permitting reform" and how, exactly, is it going to speed up infrastructure permitting?  A media that loves the idea says this:
The bill could provide a significant boost to transmission infrastructure, which is needed to ensure widespread renewable adoption. Where permitting a transmission line can now take a decade, the bill would limit federal environmental reviews to two years, put a statute of limitation of 150 days on legal challenges and give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission more authority to permit transmission lines.
First of all, they fail to recognize the REAL reason permitting a transmission line can take a decade:  Opposition from affected communities and landowners.  Will this "permitting reform" bill melt opposition by, say, requiring that long-distance transmission be buried on existing road and rail rights of way, or underwater?  No, of course not.  It completely misses the obvious, easy solution.

Then it gives examples that demonstrate the uselessness of "permitting reform."
The U.S. has a checkered history of transmission development. It has had some success building new lines, particularly in the Midwest, where 16 of 17 projects planned over the last decade were permitted.

But the country has also encountered a series of high-profile failures. An attempt to build a transmission line carrying hydropower from Canada into New England was first rejected by New Hampshire and then nixed by voters in Maine, only for the state’s high court to open the door for the project again. It remains in limbo.

A $4.5 billion line bringing wind from the Oklahoma Panhandle to Tulsa was scrapped in 2018, eventually replaced by a slightly scaled-back version of the project.

Perhaps most infamous was an eight-year effort to build a 700-mile line connecting Oklahoma wind power to the East Coast via Tennessee. The project died in 2017 but not before its trials and tribulations were captured in the popular book “Superpower” by Texas Monthly reporter Russell Gold.

Even when projects do succeed, it can take years. The Anschutz Corp. began planning a 732-mile line aimed at bringing Wyoming wind to Southern California in 2008. It received its last permit in 2020 after obtaining approvals from the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation, along with state and county regulators in four states. The project is still waiting on a notice to proceed from BLM, which is expected to arrive next year.

The NECEC could not be "saved" by anything in this "permitting reform" bill.  It doesn't give the federal government authority to prevent or invalidate state elections on referendums.  And it can't solve the legal issues with the company's acquisition of right of way through state land, which has to be approved by the legislature. 

AEP's WindCatcher project in Oklahoma could not be "saved" with "permitting reform."  Lack of permits isn't what killed that project.  It was Texas regulators, who refused to accept costs for Texas ratepayers when cheaper options existed. 

And "permitting reform" couldn't have saved the "infamous" 700-mile line connecting Oklahoma to Tennessee.  It wasn't a permitting issue... it was a customer issue.  This merchant transmission project had NO CUSTOMERS to pay for it.

And maybe the part of this whole stupid sh*t show I like best is that Manchin's "permitting reform" actually tosses out and replaces one of the provisions of the "Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill" that passed last year.  Before the DOE can even complete a "National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor" study to determine if there are any "needs" for projects that could be permitted by FERC if they are denied by a state, Manchin tries to change the rules.  Now the FERC would pop up out of nowhere and ask the Secretary of Energy to determine the project is in the national interest.  That's it.  No studies.  No administrative process.  No public participation.  No requirements.  And if the Secretary does make a decision based on politics, then FERC gets to site and permit.  It doesn't even make sense!

And do you know why it doesn't even make sense?  Because it's written and pushed forward by entities who have NO IDEA how transmission works.  No idea how it is planned.  No idea how it is permitted.  No idea how it is paid for.  It's just a legislative give-away to the cabal that is REALLY running our country.
Greg Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy, said permitting reform is needed to fully realize the emission-cutting benefits of the climate spending law Congress passed earlier this year.

“Senator Manchin’s bill includes provisions that will help streamline the transmission approval process, improving our ability to meet our nation’s decarbonization goals by better connecting our key renewable resources to our largest population centers,” he said in a statement.
ACORE is just one of the many front groups run by this cabal of the rich, global elite.  Joe's nothing but a silly puppet.  Dance, Joe, Dance.  There's no fool like an old fool.
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Groundhog Day!  Transource is Back!

9/24/2022

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Thought you were done with the Transource Independence Energy Connection when the Pennsylvania PUC denied their application to permit the project?  Thought you were done with it when Transource lost its appeal in the Commonwealth Court?

Sorry.  Even though that case has not quite exhausted its appeal in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and even though PJM suspended the project and removed it from its planning models, Transource has chucked that plan and resubmitted the same project in PJM's July 2022 competitive proposal window to solicit project proposals to address numerous reliability criteria violations on several flowgates in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

You can see Transource's new (old) proposal here. (Click to expand 2022 RTEP Window 1 at the top of the list.)  It's project number 633.  Transource describes its new proposal as:
This Proposed Solution is a resubmittal of the modified Independence Energy Connection (IEC) Project. The Proposed Solution consists of: (1) the IEC West Portion, which is comprised of approximately 29 miles of new double-circuit 230 kV AC overhead transmission line between the existing Potomac Edison Ringgold Substation in Washington County, Maryland to a new Rice Substation in Franklin County, Pennsylvania; and (2) the reconfigured IEC East Portion, which is primarily comprised of adding 230 kV AC overhead transmission lines between a new Furnace Run Substation in York County, Pennsylvania, and the existing BGE Conastone (via Baltimore County) and Graceton Substations in Harford County, Maryland.
That's right... Transource has taken its old project and resubmitted it to solve new "reliability" needs.

It's Groundhog Day!

It's not like Transource didn't already try to morph the IEC into a "reliability" project after the economic need for it evaporated during the PA PUC evidentiary hearing.  They tried really hard to find new reasons to build the same old, tired project without having to start again.  But the PA PUC rejected the idea that it could substitute a new "need" for the old one without PJM going through the whole planning cycle to determine if IEC was a good solution for the small reliability issues that may arise in the future. 

The jury is still out on that one.  When PJM suspended IEC, it noted:
Violations are small in magnitude and operating steps for a short term duration can mitigate issues pending further review in 2022 RTEP.
And now here we are... in the 2022 RTEP, where PJM has opened a competitive window for projects that would solve those "small in magnitude" reliability violations.  Transource still has to be selected as the best project submitted in the window, and approved by the PJM Board of Managers, and that hasn't happened yet.  There are plenty of other projects that have also been submitted.  Some projects are cheaper, some projects ar less invasive, some projects are more likely.  Transource's chances here are not great, but it bears watching.

Why would PJM waste another 7 years on a project that has already been rejected by a state utility commission?  And what if Transource wins its federal court appeal and the denial is remanded to the PUC?  Does that mean Transource will build the same project twice?  Seems like the more logical solution for PJM is to go with a new and different project without all IEC's baggage.  But when has PJM ever done anything logical when selecting projects?  Transource has already poured tens of millions into the IEC, and ratepayers are on the hook to pay for it, whether it is ever built or not, thanks to recovery guarantees granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  Why would PJM encourage dumping more ratepayer money into the black hole of a project that is unlikely to ever be approved and built?  And why would PJM select a project with entrenched opposition, knowing that it would be hotly opposed from Day 1?

It seems that the good citizens of Pennsylvania and Maryland may never be free of the Transource IEC if the company keeps resubmitting the same project over and over, like a monkey flinging poop on the wall to see what sticks.  Nothing is going to stick, but it doesn't keep Transource from trying.  After all, ratepayers are on the hook for all the costs of Transource's Ground Hog Day project.

The least they could have done is rename it this time around.  How does Transource Groundhog Day Project sound?
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Federal Eminent Domain Across Your Land

9/24/2022

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I warned you last week that slimy senate snake Joe Manchin's secret backroom deal with Chuck Schumer would contain FEDERAL EMINENT DOMAIN to take your land for new electric transmission lines.  Sure enough, when Joe finally showed his hand, all the bad stuff is in his idiotically-named "Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022."

Like this:
Compensation for property taken under this subsection shall be determined and awarded by the district court of the United States in accordance with section 3114(c) of title 40, United States Code.’’.
Federal eminent domain authority could be granted with the flick of a pen by the Secretary of Energy, if in her opinion a transmission project pushed forward by corporate lobbyists "is consistent with sound national energy policy; and will enhance energy independence".  What the heck does that mean?  We're going to spend trillions building stuff AND TAKING PEOPLE'S PROPERTY because of "policy" created by political hacks?  Isn't all electricity in this country already domestically produced?  What do you mean "energy independence"?  Sounds like plumped up nonsense to me.  I want my country back!!!

The Secretary LOVES this legislation!!  She said


Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Friday backed the much-debated permitting overhaul provisions unveiled in Congress this week, saying they would enhance the department’s efforts to speed up electric transmission lines that connect clean energy to the grid.

“We are very excited at DOE about the potential for streamlined permitting on clean energy projects,” Granholm told reporters on the sidelines of the Global Clean Energy Action Forum in Pittsburgh.

“And I think that holds the greatest promise of the goals we’d like to achieve, which of course is getting to 100% clean electricity by 2035,” Granholm said.
Jenny from the Block is very concerned about you.
“Community input is important in all of this,” she said. “We have to be very intentional about that, and we’ve got a team that is focused on that as well.”
And then she said
“Obviously, the transmission process has been ridiculously slow, and so many NIMBY issues related to it,” Granholm said, using an acronym for the “Not In My Backyard” movement.
She wants "community input" but then turns right around and uses a derogatory term intended to dismiss community concerns.  Jenny is an elitist piece of &#!%.  She might as well have said, "Let them eat cake!"

Some states are opposing this nonsense.
We don’t think that removing the states is actually going to reduce the time frames,” said Greg White, executive director of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, which represents state officials.

He called the permitting proposal “draconian,” arguing it does nothing to solve delays stemming from federal environmental reviews. NARUC has pressed the department to scrap the proposal and bring states to the table.

“The sense is, if they can remove the state authority on siting these, that these projects will proceed quicker—and we disagree with that,” White said.
Nothing has ever been made faster and better through federal government mandates.

So, what can you do?  Call or write your U.S. Senators and tell them to oppose Manchin's permitting reform legislation.  Do it now, even if you've done it before.  The stakes are too high to sit back and hope things work out okay.  We must act!
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Invenergy Expert Promises Are Worth Zilch, Give or Take Bupkus

9/18/2022

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I love a well-written motion (legal documents of all kinds actually).  What you might at first glance dismiss as dry, boring and impossible to understand can become as enjoyable as a best seller if written by a lawyer with talent.  Good writing skills are what set great lawyers apart from mediocre ones.  And the snarky footnote is like finding cream filling in your cupcake.  Snarky footnotes are true art.  You can insult your opponent (and sometimes the court) but only if done in a very clever fashion.  And that's why I love this Motion so much.

Now we all know that Invenergy's expert witnesses are gas lighting everyone, but rarely do they get called out on it, especially in a regulatory proceeding.  However, in a Motion filed on Friday, Paul Neilan, attorney for one of the intervenors in the Illinois Commerce Commission case asked the ICC to strike portions of the testimony of two Invenergy witnesses that strayed a little outside their own "expertise" to make worthless promises and turn hearsay into "facts".

In the Testimony of Rolanda Shine, this non-lawyer witness promises the ICC that Invenergy won't charge Illinois ratepayers for the Grain Belt Express without first asking the ICC's permission.  Except the ICC has no authority over whether or not Illinois ratepayers get charged.  Only the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can decide if Illinois ratepayers will be charged for a project whose rates are under its exclusive jurisdiction.  As the Motion says,
GBX’s undertaking to seek this Commission’s prior approval of any cost allocation within
Illinois is worth zilch, give or take bupkus. GBX Witness Shine offers to this Commission an agreement that would affect rates and charges for facilities that transmit electricity from one state for consumption in another. FERC has exclusive jurisdiction over the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce. 16 U.S.C. 824(a).
And I just need to pause here a moment to add a few comments.  First of all, Invenergy has asked FERC to convene a technical conference to explore allocating a merchant transmission project's (like GBE) "reliability" and "resiliency" attributes to captive ratepayers.  See FERC Docket No. AD22-13.  In other words, GBE wants to charge all ratepayers in the region, including those in Illinois, for made up "benefits" provided by GBE.  This is wrong on so many levels.  One reason is that a merchant transmission project assumes all risk for its project.  It cannot seek recovery from captive ratepayers.  Another is that these made up "benefits" have not been found needed by regional grid operators.  It's like your neighbor planting a flower garden and then making you pay for part of it because you looked at it.  Do you need more "reliability" provided by GBE?  No?  Then why should you pay for something you don't need?

Secondly, Invenergy has recently filed a complaint against grid operator MISO asking that GBE be added to the regional transmission plan (where some network upgrade costs may be passed to ratepayers).  See Docket No. EL22-83.

And third, Invenergy has stated that it plans to help itself to "government" sources of financing.  These financial opportunities have been made available thanks to the recent Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Acts.  One that Invenergy mentions would use taxpayer money to purchase capacity contracts on merchant transmission projects for the express purpose of financially propping up merchants that don't have enough customers to make their project economic.  Don't the people of Illinois pay federal income taxes?  Yes, yes they do.  Therefore, would the ICC have to approve GBE's application for a capacity contract?  I'm sure Ms. Shine didn't mean that.  And even if she did, the ICC cannot control the federal government's giveaways.

Invenergy's promises are garbage.

The Motion also asks that a portion of the Testimony of Shashank Sane be struck due to impermissible legal conclusions and because it is hearsay.

In Sane's testimony (yuk, yuk, yuk, been looking for an opportunity to type that) he repeats an incorrect legal conclusion that he read in the Illinois Renewable Energy Access Plan.  He repeats it like it is a fact.  It's not.  It's wrong as can be, as the Motion points out.

It's about time someone with knowledge of federal energy statutes and regulations steps up to put out the flame of Invenergy's little gas lantern.  Sadly, we don't seem to be able to count on the state regulators to have this kind of simple knowledge... and that's probably why Invenergy keeps misinforming everyone.  A knowledgeable attorney is a breath of fresh air!
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Manchin Deal Gives Transmission Permitting Authority to U.S. DOE

9/17/2022

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Quick... to your battle stations, good citizens!

The biggest hush-hush in Washington these days revolves around West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin's "permitting deal" with members of Congress.  Reports indicate that in exchange for voting for the recent "Inflation Reduction Act", Joe was promised quick passage of new legislation that changes permitting authority for new electric transmission projects.  News articles say that Senate leader Chuck Schumer has promised to attach Joe's proposed legislation to a "must pass" government funding bill that avoids a government shut down at the end of this month.  Time is growing short and perhaps they think they will have a short and quiet glide to the finish line.  Don't go quietly, folks.  This legislation is THE WORST THING TO COME OUT OF WASHINGTON IN YEARS.  You might as well go kicking and screaming all the way.  Let's defeat this horrible plan!

Here's a one page summary of the legislation that was leaked to the press.  See the second to last section on this document:
Enhance federal government permitting authority for interstate electric transmission facilities that have been determined by the Secretary of Energy to be in the national interest.

Replace DOE’s national interest electric transmission corridor process with a national interest determination by the Secretary of Energy that allows FERC to issue a construction permit.

Require FERC to ensure costs for transmission projects are allocated to customers that benefit.

Allow FERC to approve payments from utilities to jurisdictions impacted by a transmission project.
Here's the actual proposed legislation, in long form.  You can check these talking points in the legislation, like I just did.

Here's a summary:

This legislation will usurp the authority of your state public utility commission to approve siting and permitting of electric transmission.  Instead of your state regulators determining whether the project is needed, economic for you, and properly sited to avoid impacts, the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington will be making a decision whether the project is "in the national interest."  What does this mean?  Considering how political the DOE is, it means that a political deal is made that is completely divorced from need and economics.  It would be about whether the developer who wants to fill his pockets building it has the right lobbyists to get a DOE designation.  Once the designation is bought from DOE, the legislation passes the buck to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington to site and permit the project.  What do some appointed bureaucrats in Washington know about how the project might affect you and your community?  They absolutely don't care.  They may simply stamp it "approved."  Once that happens, federal eminent domain authority will be used to take your property for the transmission project.  That's right, folks, FEDERAL EMINENT DOMAIN to condemn and take your private property.

And then the legislation dips into FERC's authority to allocate the costs of regionally approved transmission projects to captive electric customers (this means you).  Currently, only those projects planned and approved by federally regulated electric grid managers, such as MISO or PJM, may be allocated to captive customers who must pay for the project.  However, this legislative mandate requires ALL transmission designated by DOE as in the "national interest" to be cost allocated.  This would include the many merchant transmission projects that are currently being developed outside regional grid plans.  Merchant transmission, by definition, does not have captive customers that are required to pay for their projects.  Merchants must negotiate contracts with voluntary users to pay for their projects.  They cannot simply charge everyone for a project that has not been found needed by independent regional grid planners.  A merchant project gambles that voluntary customers will find it useful and pay for it.  If that does not happen, then the project will not be built.  We should not be forced to pay for politically-connected merchant transmission projects that are not needed for reliability, economic or public policy purposes.  We should not be forced to pay for speculative developer boondoggles in the name of greed.

And here's another foray into FERC's authority to ensure that transmission rates are just and reasonable.  This legislation requires captive consumers to pay for a utility's BRIBES, that's right  BRIBES, to local communities in exchange for accepting transmission impacts.  Long-standing FERC regulations prohibit a utility from recovering its costs to influence transmission approvals.  This includes making bribes to local governments in exchange for their support of the project.  If this legislation passes, we will be paying to bribe ourselves to accept disbenefits and impacts.  How does that make transmission better?  It doesn't.  It just makes it hurt even more.

So, what can we do about this?

Let Joe Manchin know that you do not approve of his "permitting deal" on electric transmission!  Tell him you do not approve of federal eminent domain, federal permitting authority, being forced to pay for speculative projects, and paying bribes to your own community in exchange for allowing your private property to be condemned.  Tell him that new transmission technology allows projects to be buried on existing rail and road rights of way.  Buried transmission on existing rights of way doesn't take any new land and is not opposed by communities.  It doesn't require BRIBES and it doesn't cause project siting delays.

You can email Joe here.  Or you can call his office at 202-224-3954 and tell him you oppose his permitting deal on electric transmission.

And while you're at it, you can also contact your own Congressional representatives and let them know you oppose Joe's "permitting deal" on electric transmission.

Time is short.  Please take a few minutes to register your resistance to this horrible plan now.

Don't let all your hard work opposing the transmission project that has affected you go to waste.  Don't let your victory turn into defeat at the hands of Washington politicians.  Stop this horrible deal now!
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Lessons On Empathy

9/11/2022

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At the beginning of this year, I opined
These arrogant greedsters will continue to push their narrative that only a boot on the neck of rural America can usher in a renewable energy future.  Instead of working with rural America to find a solution, these folks continue to push for more authority to simply take what they want.
It's still true, and getting worse.  Look what this selfish little baby recently wrote in a liberal propaganda rag.  Blah, blah, blah, we're so much smarter than you and we have to have our way!  We don't want to see energy infrastructure from our little city cracker box stacks.  We need to build an enormous amount of wind and solar and transmission in your back yard right.the.heck.now. and you don't matter.  You know how it goes, dear reader, glib name calling from clueless partisans.

But wait... look at this.  I mean REALLY look at this!

Australia has spent several years already trying to do the same thing this country has only recently started to attempt -- overbuilding wind and solar in remote places, along with new transmission to connect it to cities.  Australia is several years ahead of us in this game.  But it's not turning out so swell.  Massive public protests against the new transmission have happened, and the growing movement against this "clean energy" plan actually threatens the plan itself.  The opposition has played this to a stalemate.  Transmission cannot move forward.  And because it can't move forward, the whole "transition" is being delayed.  Little do these elite babies know that anger against unwanted infrastructure, if left unchecked, can turn into anger against clean energy and derail the entire thing.  The boot on the neck of rural Australia has not worked.  It won't work here, either.

Australia's experience is a lesson we need to learn now, before our own "transition" begins in earnest.

The lesson is here.  Literally right here.

Australia's Energy Grid Alliance has recently released a new report, Acquiring Social Licence for Electricity Transmission, A Best Practice Approach to Electricity Transmission Infrastructure Development.

Doesn't sound like much -- just more trendy speak... social license?  However, once I got reading, I was hooked.  This report tells the most important truths about transmission opposition and why the U.S. Government's current approach to put a boot on the neck of rural America will fail, just like it did in Australia.  I'm not sure when I've seen all the right social/behavioral/community studies together in one easy-to-read report like this... probably never.  Maybe you'll think it's a bit geeky and the Aussie-speak requires a bit of translation while reading, but you won't be sorry you invested the time to read it.  After reading, please feel free to forward it to every elected official, regulator, reporter, transmission developer, and environmental group you can find.  This is how we need to begin:  Tear  down the current system we've been using to build electric transmission and start from scratch.

If you read that stupid NYT editorial linked at the beginning of this blog, you'll see that self-appointed "advocates" fueled by Big Green money are pushing for the "
talk to them early and pay them more" approach that has completely failed in Australia.  Why would we take this approach when it is sure to fail (and waste a bunch of time in the process)?  Turns out these self-appointed "advocates" don't know diddly squat about opposition to electric transmission, which makes them suggest incorrect (and outdated) ideas.  I'm looking at you, Niskanen Center... this wouldn't be the first time I've told you to shut up and go away because you don't speak for any electric transmission opposition group.  You speak for the people who intend to get rich building transmission.  You are the original fox in the hen house.  The Energy Grid Alliance Report talks about people just like you...
At a recent Australian energy conference, the program indicates that the energy industry is acutely aware of, and concerned about, the urgent need to develop trust and acquire social licence for transmission. So much so that a panel discussion specifically focussed on the best ways to combat anti-transmission line sentiment. The panel included key industry representatives from the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner, AusNet Services, Powerlink Queensland, Nous Group and CutlerMerz.

Interestingly, the panel did not include members of the public, representatives from community advocacy bodies or community groups calling for better transmission planning and framework reform.

T
his raises an important question; how can anti-transmission sentiment be truly understood by the industry if those representing the Australian public are not involved in the discussion? The lack of public inclusion in forums such as this suggests there is still much work to be done in understanding best practice engagement principles.
I've long written about silly industry conferences where they talk about ways to control or neutralize opposition, and consistently get it wrong.  Happens in Australia, too.  And it's happening here right now, where environmental groups tell regulators how they should control us.  Hypocrites of the highest order!  We are never invited to participate.  They don't want to hear what we think, what we want, what we feel.  They don't want to hear from us, period.

Oh, sometimes they pretend to allow us "meaningful participation," but it's like shouting into a pillow.
Firstly, communities are not upset that their concerns haven't been heard as there is no doubt opposition has been voiced. Communities are upset because their concerns are not being understood, listened to or respected, with collaborative action being taken to understand and accommodate this opposition to bring about a more mutually beneficial outcome. There is a significant difference between being heard and being understood. Communication is not simply about the transmission of information; it is about the reception and understanding of it. Genuine engagement is then demonstrated by taking meaningful, constructive and collaborative action.
But it doesn't stop them from pretending they know what we want better than we do.  They think they just need to "educate" (indoctrinate?  brainwash? fool?) us better about all the "benefits" we will receive.
Secondly, in the case of the WVTNP, there are no foreseeable benefits to communities expected to carry the burden of 190km of overhead transmission. How can the industry better sell the benefits to host landholders and neighbouring communities when there are no benefits to sell?
And this report does one of my most favorite things ever!  It introduces a rarely used word from the Brits that I plan to use the heck out of:
             DISBENEFITS
Disbenefits are the opposite of benefits.   They are disadvantages. They are costs to landowners and communities.  They are harms.  They are impacts.  They are uncompensated.  They are forever.  A transmission line visits many disbenefits on the landowners it crosses.

When the actual affected people are not equal partners in the solution, nothing gets solved.  The newest thing being pushed by environmental groups in the U.S. is earlier engagement with communities and more compensation.  This doesn't work because it's not about giving opposition a seat at the table, it's about "educating" and bribing them to accept disbenefits.  Here's what the report says about that:
The energy industry and governments can do more to understand and appreciate that community benefits and compensation may not be the quick-fix solutions they hoped they might be. In fact, pushing the ‘talk to them early and pay them more’ agenda is very likely to further dilute trust, increase opposition and dissolve any credible opportunity to acquire social licence. Without empathy in the social licence and public policy equation, it will be near to impossible to develop trust for transmission.
What was that?  EMPATHY!!  There is absolutely no empathy for affected landowners and communities (see NYT op ed I started this blog with).  These arrogant and elite babies who would give their last dollar to a homeless person on their way home from work, or let a hardened criminal out of jail, have absolutely no empathy for hardworking farmers or rural residents from all walks of life.  The big environmental groups and our big government are also devoid of empathy for these folks.  It's almost like they take perverse glee in making rural folks shoulder the burden of new energy infrastructure.... because maybe they voted for another political party.

The report puts a high priority on empathy, which it describes like this:
Empathy is the ability to emotionally understand what other people feel, see things from their point of view, and imagine yourself in their place. Essentially, it is putting yourself in someone else's position and feeling what they are feeling. The ability to feel empathy allows people to "walk a mile in another's shoes". It permits people to understand the emotions that others are feeling.
I challenge every regulator, elected official, and clean energy disciple to really stretch themselves to learn and practice empathy.  That's where progress begins.  We're not your enemy.  We all inhabit the same planet.  You wouldn't like it if we imposed our will on you to place energy infrastructure in your back yard.  Be honest and admit it.  That's the first step.  Only through mutual understanding will we create a fair and just energy system.
The admonition to walk a mile in someone else's shoes means before judging someone, you must understand his/her experiences, challenges, thought processes, etc. Truly listening to another persons view creates empathy, something that community sentiment suggests is lacking within the energy industry.

It’s not difficult to understand why it may be challenging for the energy industry to demonstrate empathy. For decades, its has been insulated from the need to consider social or environmental externalities and has rarely had to meaningfully engage with, or have empathy for landowners and communities.
Are we turning the page, or continuing the unjust rationale to visit the needs of the many on the lives of the few?
Empathy helps develop trust; therefore, it is important that transmission network planners and policy makers spend time to consider, understand and respect landowner and public perspectives, experiences, and motivations before making a judgment about them and asking rural communities to shoulder the burden of overhead transmission for the benefit of the masses. Economic benefits, community benefits, compensation, the climate, environment, emissions, jobs, and green energy, are often wielded by governments and the industry to garner public support for overhead transmission. While there may be truth in some of these benefits, many in the community view this strategy as an intentional attempt to reduce credible objections to those of NIMBYism (Not in my backyard). For many, this strategy demonstrates a concerning lack of empathy as to why overhead transmission projects are being objected to in the first place.

In addition to legitimacy, credibility and trust, empathy should be added to the list of social licence components. Without empathy, it is impossible for the other three components to exists. Without empathy, it will be challenging to garner community support. To develop empathy, it is necessary to first explore the deeper reasons for objection to offer these objections the respect and attention they deserve.
And you can only get that from affected landowners, not the puffed up environmental actors who hate them.  Landowners need a seat at the table.  That means upfront, where policy is created, not at the end of the line where they may have 2 minutes to tell an uninterested regulator why they object to the transmission project that has been thrust upon them as a fait accompli.

How familiar does this sound?
When discussing compensation and engagement with potentially impacted landowners throughout the eastern states of Australia, many have indicated, in no uncertain terms;

‘I'll never sell'; 'We will not be bought off'; 'No amount of money will compensate for the impact on our properties, community and environment'; 'We will not risk our kid's inheritance'; 'Our land is our superannuation, we will not sacrifice that'; ‘This is our livelihood, who has the right to take that away.

W
hen speaking with stakeholders in the energy industry and those living in more urbanised environments, reactions suggest a level of confusion. Comments often conveyed indicate it’s difficult to comprehend why people would not accept payment for the burden they are expected to carry.

'They are only transmission lines'; 'We drive past them every day to work, what's the issue'; 'This is the price we must all pay for progress and to reduce our impact on the climate'; 'Transmission towers remind me of our engineering mastery'; 'It's only farmland, plant your potatoes somewhere else'.
Transmission opponents have all lived this.  Over the past 15 years, I have listened (with empathy, btw) to hundreds of landowners affected by different transmission projects.  Sadly, I've often seen the dismissive attitude of the unaffected as well.  This section is 100% accurate.

So, how do we get past this to develop understanding and empathy?
To understand this, we need to dig a lot deeper than early engagement and financial motivation. We need to understand the connection between people, the environment, the land, and rural areas. We need to understand the person-place interaction that leads to attachment to place. This connection to place is experienced by traditional owners, landowners, neighbours, and visitors alike. The strength of this attachment often surfaces under threat of loss of place.
We need to recognize and understand this:
Family farms are a unique institution, continuing through time in a world where considerations of hard work, long-term thinking and commitment are often sparse. Families in agriculture have long provided a steady backbone to rural Australia, serving as stewards of our natural resources and taking care of the neighbours, communities and environments in which they live. Because of their dedication to preserving farm operations and improving land for native wildlife, farm families are very emotionally close to their way of life and to the land on which they live. Many see themselves as temporary stewards of their land, managing it for future generations, just as their great-great-grandfather might have done for them.

A statement by one landholder was, “I don't have a sense that I own it as such. But I've been given the privilege to influence it, to protect it, to enhance it and among other things – stop other people influencing it, without me giving them permission."
Ultimately, here's what needs to be understood and accepted by everyone:

New transmission only made necessary by the "clean energy" transition must be willingly accepted by those asked to host it.  It won't happen through force.  It can only happen when we set firm boundaries against new sacrifice and put on our innovative thinking caps.  How might new transmission, or better yet a new energy system, be built that doesn't cause unnecessary sacrifice?  One answer might be building smaller systems for localized use and dispensing with the need for big new transmission altogether.  Another might be rebuilding existing transmission to increase its capacity.  But a favorite idea, by far, is to build new transmission on existing linear rights of way, such as roads or rail.  Better yet, burying this new transmission on existing rights of way is an idea that has already gained acceptance with landowners in the U.S.  It is popular in Australia, too.
It’s also important to note that a cost seen by some, is viewed as an investment by others. Communities impacted by proposed overhead transmission projects argue that despite potential increase in capital by avoiding a shorter more impactful route, use of existing easements, longer least-impact routes or an investment in undergrounding (particularly HVDC), is a long-term economically viable investment in achieving climate change objectives, protecting our environment, avoiding land use conflict, and providing increased redundancy, resilience and reliability to our transmission networks. Despite the increased cost, Star of the South, a private development, is undergrounding its transmission to minimise the environmental impacts. This has been well received by potentially impacted communities.
Of course, each community is different and it's important to bring them to the table before any decisions are made about how the project will look, or where it will go.  However, a project that doesn't create any impacts on privately-owned land, such as one buried on existing right of way is a guaranteed winner with any group of landowners.  You don't bother them, they won't bother you.  In fact, they might even *gasp* support you!!!

So, as Congress takes on the task of trying to improve energy infrastructure siting and permitting this fall, it's important to let your representative know that a boot on your neck will not work.  It didn't work in Australia, and it's not going to work here.
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FERC Complaint Changes Everything You Thought You Knew About Grain Belt Express

9/8/2022

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Isn't it high time to stop Invenergy's posturing about how "advanced" Grain Belt Express is, or how much of a "sure thing" it is.  Here's the reality I've been continually serving up for years, now bolstered by both MISO and MISO transmission owners:  Grain Belt Express is a speculative project that can't be completed because it doesn't have enough customers.  Here, I even created a fresh one!
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Invenergy is so full of themselves lately that maybe now they even believe their own exaggerations about how "needed" they are?  What else could explain the recent Complaint Invenergy filed against Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)?  At any rate, filing that complaint could begin a new section of Invenergy's Grain Belt Express scrapbook entitled "The Beginning of the End."  Well, if Invenergy is keeping a scrapbook, that is....

Invenergy filed its complaint in the beginning of August, claiming that MISO wrongly excluded GBE from its recent Long Range Transmission Plan (LRTP).  Invenergy said that although MISO's rules require a merchant transmission project to have a signed interconnection agreement (IA) or to be included in a utility's state-approved integrated resource plan in order to be a part of the plan, Grain Belt should also be included because it is an "advanced stage merchant transmission" project.  Invenergy said that by failing to include a completed and operating GBE in the model of the MISO transmission system that is used to identify new projects, MISO was hurting ratepayers by making them pay for projects that might not be necessary if GBE was included.  In plain English -- some of the projects that MISO approved in its LRTP may be a better deal for GBE's prospective customers!!!

Here's a map of MISO's recently approved Tranche 1 LRTP.
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As MISO confirmed in its Answer to the Complaint, Invenergy's problem is the series of lines beginning at "Orient" Iowa (its the name of a substation, not necessarily a town) connecting to Fairport, Missouri, connecting to Zachary, Thomas and Maywood, Missouri, and ending at Meredosia, Illinois as shown on the above map.
On March 17, 2021, MISO laid out its initial roadmap for LRTP transmission solutions based on the Futures analysis. The initial roadmap included a proposed line from central Iowa, through northern Missouri, with two offshoots further south into Missouri with one in a similar area as the proposed Point(s) of Connection for the GBX Line, and finally into central Illinois.
 
It was announced during that meeting that the analysis had been completed on the proposed Transmission Solutions linking central Iowa to Northern Missouri to central Illinois and that those upgrades would be included in the LRTP portfolio. It was only after this announcement that Invenergy approached MISO to express its views regarding the GBX Line and how it interacted with LRTP.
Or, as Missourian Norman Fishel said in his Comments on Invenergy's complaint filed at FERC:
In comments to MISO, Invenergy claimed that “[f]ailure to account for the GBX Line may cause economic harm to GBX.”

Grain Belt Express acknowledges how it intends to edge out new MISO projects by taking their place:

“Across the Midwest and Great Plains, several potential transmission projects have been proposed over the next decade to address regional reliability needs, enable the delivery of power to load centers, reduce congestion, and unlock renewables potential. While there still may be a need for localized upgrades, given that the Project addresses these broader goals, it stands to logically reason that the Project could plausibly defer/eliminate the need for certain future major transmission developments."
Well, talk about overestimating your own importance!  Invenergy must think that it can control MISO's planning the same way it has grabbed various state politicians by the scruff of their neck and owned them.

A merchant transmission project cannot just horn into a regional transmission plan and claim it's accomplishing the same goals and therefore make the regional transmission organization cancel its own projects.  It just doesn't work that way.  MISO plans its own system.  MISO also manages generator connections like GBE to make sure they don't compromise the system.
Invenergy also compares the expected timeline of its proposed projects to the expected timelines of the LRTP Tranche 1 projects, but that comparison does not help Invenergy’s argument, even if taken on its face value. Under the Tariff, the MTEP is “developed to facilitate the timely and orderly expansion of and/or modification to the [MISO] Transmission System.

Including projects without sufficient certainty, regardless of timeline, does not advance system reliability.
In other words, MISO cannot count on speculative merchant transmission projects to ensure reliability.

Couple other things MISO said in its Answer, which I urge you to read carefully:
  1. GBE kept changing its interconnection requests in both size and location.
  2. GBE still has an interconnection position in Ralls County.  MISO doesn't know what its intention is with this.
  3. GBE's interconnections are all unidirectional -- they have asked for permission to inject energy into MISO, not withdraw it.  Beware any entity that has been promised service from MISO to PJM (MJMEUC).  Or any entity that has been told how GBE could reverse directions and move power from east to west in an emergency.  It just can't happen.
  4. "Invenergy has only requested to operate the GBX Line as a long generator lead line."  That's a quote.
  5. "Adopting Invenergy’s proposals will reduce the precision of MISO’s planning models by making them subject to an MHVDC [merchant] Connection Customer’s changes or withdrawals." and "Invenergy’s proposals may inappropriately assign costs driven by the GBX Line to MISO load. The Commission should not allow Invenergy to unilaterally mold MISO’s MHVDC connection and planning processes to fit its commercial proposals."
  6. No load serving entity (electric utility) in MISO said it was "planning on the GBX Line as a resource to meet their plans/goals."
  7. Invenergy told MISO that Ameren was ordered to include GBE in its Integrated Resource Plan by the MO PSC, but "Ameren’s 2022 IRP update does appear to not mention the inclusion of the GBX Line."  Sounds like another case of Invenergy using stale information to misleadingly bolster its project.  Be sure to verify everything Invenergy says from now on (more on why in the section of this post about Norm Fishel's comments).
  8. MISO's rules "protect MISO customers from unjust and unreasonable rates that could result from the incorporation of premature or incorrect assumptions about future projects without sufficient certainty."  Here's the thing... GBE can be cancelled at any time due to lack of customers.  If MISO counts on it and that happens, MISO would have to quickly plan projects to take its place that may be less efficient and more expensive.
  9. "The reality, however, is that projects and business plans change and the GBX Line proposal is a prime example..."
  10. "[Invenergy's] proposed definition of “Advanced Stage Merchant Transmission” is completely unsupported."  Read Norm's comments to see why "Advanced-stage merchant transmission has no definition, and even seems to change depending upon the venue in which Invenergy finds itself.  In its recent Missouri Application, Invenergy claims that its project has not yet reached an advanced stage..."
  11. MISO explains how adding a speculative merchant transmission project to the models before the interconnections are approved causes new lines to support those interconnections to appear in the plan earlier, where they are paid for by captive ratepayers, instead of the merchant that caused them... "...relieving Invenergy of its obligations to pay for upgrades needed to accommodate its interconnection." 
  12. "MISO is concerned that the Complaint is merely a vehicle to address one entity’s commercial preferences or use MISO’s processes to enable a specific project rather than an identification of a genuine need."  And if Invenergy was looking for MISO to support building GBE, it can now be sadly disappointed.  All the malarkey about reliability, need, lower prices can now be chucked out the window.  Reliability, need and cheaper electricity prices are what MISO does.  MISO says GBE is not needed for any of those purposes.  Who are you going to believe?  An impartial grid planner or a self-interested profit-seeking corporation?
And if you think the MISO Answer is derisive towards GBE, don't miss the Protest of MISO Transmission Owners (TO).  This entity consists of a large group of utilities that own transmission lines that serve MISO and who have fully participated in MISO's planning process which came up with the new lines Invenergy objects to, including Ameren.  The TOs don't mince words.  You should probably read this to yourself using a sneering voice:
Invenergy also fails to show that the GBX Line should receive special treatment and circumvent the MISO planning process. As a project that is not yet certain, MISO properly excluded the GBX Line from the planning studies for LRTP projects.
The TOs go on to point out why GBE is speculative.
Invenergy claims that its GBX Line, a merchant high voltage direct current (“MHVDC”) transmission project designed to carry up to 5,000 megawatts (“MW”) of energy, should have been accounted for in MISO’s transmission planning analyses even though it has not yet obtained all necessary approvals and interconnection agreements, and its prospects for achieving such statuses are not at all certain.
The TOs make other points too righteous to ignore:
  1. "In the instant proceeding, Invenergy asks the Commission to render MISO’s transmission planning process null by compelling MISO—after MISO’s Board approved LRTP Tranche 1 Portfolio on July 25, 2022—to conduct a sensitivity of the Tranche 1 projects that accesses the potential impact of the GBX Line assuming it is ever finished, based solely on an unsubstantiated allegation that the Tranche 1 benefits metrics may be flawed because they did not account for this speculative project."
  2. Invenergy's attempt to disrupt MISO's planning is "particularly egregious."
  3. "Unless and until the firm generation and load customers are identified by Invenergy, the GBX Line cannot be modeled..."
  4. "Invenergy had multiple opportunities to participate in the numerous stages of the process whose outcome it now seeks to upend."  But it did not until it thought the process might hurt its project.
  5. "Invenergy repeatedly describes how much money it has expended toward completion of the GBX Line as evidence that the line is at an advanced stage near completion. However, a developer can spend many years in development and millions of dollars on an MHVDC project that will never be completed. For example, the Rock Island Clean Line project (“Clean Line”) failed to reach completion despite its half-decade and multi-million dollar efforts.  Had MISO assumed the Clean Line project would be constructed in its long-term planning processes based simply on the time and money that had been invested in the project, there is no telling how many changes and new plans would have been needed once it became clear the project would not go forward."
This quote deserves to be highlighted:
While Invenergy explains the status of the GBX Line noting the number of approvals and permits it has obtained, the prospects for the project are far from certain. For example, as Invenergy concedes, permits are still required in one state. In addition, on August 24, 2022, Invenergy submitted an amended Certificate of Convenience and Necessity Application in Missouri to request significant changes in the GBX Line.   Invenergy also has not yet executed interconnection agreements with half of the transmission systems it proposes to interconnect—MISO and PJM.
Speculative... far from certain... not advanced enough to be included in regional transmission planning.  So, you might ask youself, what the living spit is the Missouri Public Service Commission doing allowing such a project to CONDEMN and take land from the good people of Missouri?

And, let's end this section with the following quote from the TOs:
The Commission should deny Invenergy’s attempt to obtain preferred treatment for the GBX line.
Don't miss the Comments of Missouri's own Norman Fishel asking that FERC deny Invenergy's complaint.  They were written for "real people" and are perfectly understandable.  Norm gathers information from Invenergy's various applications, comments, and permits to show, "Grain Belt Express seems to be like a chameleon, its description changing depending upon the venue it finds itself in, and the goal of its filing." 
Norm says that GBE doesn't even consider itself to be an "advanced-stage" project.  He also points out that GBE  has NO state approvals, since all the state permits will have to be re-approved due to changes in the project.  He points out that GBE only has one valid interconnection, since it has proposed changes to its SPP interconnection in Kansas that have not yet been approved.  And, perhaps my favorite part is where Norm baldly demonstrates that Invenergy might be a... well... a liar.
In its Complaint, Invenergy claims “Grain Belt Express has secured voluntary easements for over 75% of the necessary right-of-way in Kansas and Missouri.” However, in its Application in Missouri, Grain Belt claims it has “[a]cquired 72% of all easements required for the Kansas and Missouri portion of the Project.” While only a difference of 3%, it is notable that the percentage of easements acquired went down in the two weeks between the filing of this Complaint and the filing of the Missouri application.
So Invenergy told FERC on August 8 that it had secured over 75% of the easements, and then on August 24 told the MO PSC that it has 72% of the easements.  Did a bunch of easements get unsigned in that 2 week period?  If not, Invenergy is a flat out liar.  You can't believe anything a liar tells you.  Word to the wise.

Another section of Norm's comments deals with all the inconsistencies in GBE's Negotiated Rate Authority from the Commission and questions whether Invenergy has invalidated the Commission's approval to negotiate rates with potential customers.  Without Negotiated Rate Authority, Grain Belt Express cannot sign contracts with customers.

And maybe that's what Invenergy intends?  Norm clips this quote from GBE's Illinois application:
“Subject to additional oversight and approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”), Grain Belt Express may sell and/or lease an undivided interest in the project to potential buyers and/or lessees, and Grain Belt Express and those buyers/lessees may seek to provide transmission service over the line to eligible customers as defined by FERC on a non-discriminatory basis under a FERC-approved open access transmission tariff (“OATT”). Any co-owner or lessee of Grain Belt Express that seeks to provide transmission service will be required to operate pursuant to an OATT on file with FERC that will meet the requirements of the Federal Power Act and FERC’s regulations. Grain Belt Express may also sell a cotenancy interest or lease a long-term leasehold interest in the transmission line, in which case it is not providing transmission service to such buyer/lessee because the buyer/lessee has control over that undivided interest”.
Invenergy says it may sell "interests" in the projects to other private parties for their own private use.  Those parties who buy an "interest" may sell service to other parties for public use, but they may also keep all the transmission service for themselves.  If they kept it to themselves, it would be nothing more than a private-use generation lead line, which is a private electric roadway for a generator to connect to the transmission system.  The BIG HUGE problem with this is that without offering its transmission service to all entities through a public offering, Grain Belt Express is no longer "for public use."  And if GBE is not for "public use" then it is not entitled to use eminent domain to condemn and take property.

It sure looks to me like GBE is only using FERC's Negotiated Rate Authority as a fig leaf to cover its real plan to use the project for private use without opening it up to public bidding.  Looks like it's going to take land now under false pretenses, and then privatize its project later once it has all the land it needs.  This is a GIANT stopper for both the Missouri PSC and the Illinois Commerce Commission (and the Illinois Supreme Court, who had serious questions about RICL's "public use" that were never addressed in that case).  Without being for "public use" the project CANNOT USE EMINENT DOMAIN.

So, to sum up this exceedingly long blog...  We've got a whole new ball game, folks! 

MISO has approved new projects that will bring Iowa wind electricity to Missouri and Illinois, most likely for a much cheaper price that GBE has been offering.  This happened because GBE has failed to be built when it said it would be built.  A stone rolling downhill, or a grid with hungry customers, waits for no man/project.  MISO says that GBE is not "needed" for reliability, economics, or any other reason.  MISO and its TOs think GBE is far from certain to be built.  This is quite refreshing because for so long Invenergy has been trying to gaslight regulators, legislators and landowners about how it is needed for reliability and economic purposes and is ready to be built.  Turns out none of that is true.  It's all been a house of cards.  Reject everything you thought was true about Grain Belt Express and embrace the new reality this complaint demonstrates.  Grain Belt Express's reign of terror across the Midwest is about to end.  The sooner Michael Polsky realizes this, the less money he will lose at the end.  Let's hope he's not as stupid as Michael Skelly was... dumping his last penny into projects that never become reality.

When you poke a stick into the lion's cage, sometimes the lion bites your head off.

The End.
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Missourians Protest Unnecessary Transmission Project

9/2/2022

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The good citizens of Missouri peacefully protested outside the Public Service Commission this week.  The citizens are opposed to the plans of Chicago-based renewable energy company, Invenergy, to use eminent domain  to run the high-voltage electric transmission Grain Belt Express Tiger Connector line through their properties.
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The successful protest attracted lots of attention from the media.

Such as this story on KOMU.  Maybe someone wants to ask Patrick Whitty at Invenergy who the other customers for 2500 MW of transmission capacity in Missouri might be, since his "39 cities" have only signed up to purchase less than 10% of the available capacity?  Those 39 cities aren't going to generate enough revenue to build a $5B electric transmission line across 4 states.  Can we apply a little common sense here?

And this story in the Fulton Sun.  Isn't that gracious of Invenergy to "thank the citizens for their feedback?"  What a bunch of lousy fakes!

And this one on KRCG.  Short and to the point, heavy on the pictures.

And there are plenty more. 

Too bad for Invenergy, who tried to hide or minimize the Tiger Connector project in recent press releases.... one of which got absolutely no media attention at all.

The cat is out of the bag now...
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Bravo, Missouri citizens!
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If The Shoe Was On The Other Foot...

9/2/2022

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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.
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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:
“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.
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    About the Author

    Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.
    In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history.

    About
    StopPATH Blog

    StopPATH Blog began as a forum for information and opinion about the PATH transmission project.  The PATH project was abandoned in 2012, however, this blog was not.

    StopPATH Blog continues to bring you energy policy news and opinion from a consumer's point of view.  If it's sometimes snarky and oftentimes irreverent, just remember that the truth isn't pretty.  People come here because they want the truth, instead of the usual dreadful lies this industry continues to tell itself.  If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.


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