PSO succeeded in obtaining injunctions in other counties against pro se landowners without the resources or ability to question PSO's contradictory characterization of the Gen-Tie as both a transmission line (for eminent domain purposes) and not a transmission line (for Commission preapproval purposes). That duplicity should stop here.

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The parties had further discussions after the open meeting regarding appropriate customer protections for the proposed Wind Catcher Project, but were unable to reach an agreement.

To date the Company has made a significant investment so that it is able to execute the Project in a timely manner. As noted at the July 12 open meeting, approval of the Project is necessary to ensure our ability to contain costs and deliver the benefits of the
Project to customers. Recognizing the complexity of the Project and the need for additional time for Commissioners to consider this case, the Company will work with our Project partners and is willing to place additional Company funds at risk so that the benefits to SWEPCO's customers can be realized. Because of the need to order long leadtime equipment, time for Gen-Tie right-of-way activities and Project construction
schedule critical paths, it is necessary to have an order from the Commission to proceed by the end of August. The Company will also inform the Oklahoma Corporation Commission of the additional time flexibility, and additional customer protections. These changes represent the limits of what SWEPCO and AEP can offer in order to move
forward with the Project.

Hedge fund managers and other large investors hire forensic analysts to sit in on corporate earnings calls. The first half of such calls tend to be heavily scripted, as top leaders run through the results. But in the second half, executives answer questions from equity analysts — or evade those questions — and therefore are working without a script. That’s when the Valens analyst keeps an eye glued to the firm’s proprietary electro-audiogram (EAG) system, which measures voice patterns. Think of the digital audiogram as a sophisticated lie detector test. In all, it maps a total of 15 markers that gauge whether the speaker seems to believe his or her own words based mostly on inflection — whether the voice seems stressed or hesitant, grows louder or softer, speeds up or slows down.

A Locke Lord team led by Mitch Tiras (Houston) represented a management team at ConnectGen, LLC in the acquisition of all the non-transmission assets of Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC, which received a commitment of $100 million from Quantum Energy Partners Fund VII and will develop renewable energy projects across North America. Additional assistance was provided by Sara Longtain and Rachel Fitzgerald (both of Houston).

Ms. Desai is the President of ConnectGen LLC, a company focused on the development of wind, solar and storage projects. Prior to joining ConnnectGen LLC, Ms. Desai served as the Chief Operating Officer of Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC a developer of transmission line infrastructure projects that deliver wind energy to communities and cities that lack access to low cost renewable energy resources. Prior to that, Ms. Desai was CFO of Horizon Wind Energy, a developer, owner and operator of wind farms. Prior to that, Ms. Desai was a Director at Enron responsible for Mergers & Acquisitions. Ms. Desai began her career as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company. Ms. Desai currently serves on the Executive Board of KIPP Houston and as the Chairperson of the Board of the Wind Energy Foundation. Ms. Desai holds a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

The environmental group Renew Missouri championed the 7-0 Supreme Court decision as a win for clean energy. 

“While this case has lingered in limbo for years as our neighbor states like Iowa and Illinois have passed us by, this puts the Show-Me State back on the map for wind energy by giving municipal utility companies all over the state more options in how they can best serve their customers’ power needs,” said Renew Missouri Executive Director James Owen.

Owen also indicated his organization thought contributions to opponents of the project had come from individuals or groups that purposely hid their identities.

“Lots of resources were poured into fighting off this progress,” Owen said.  “We will probably never know who funded the efforts to defeat the Grain Belt Express or how much dark money was used. But the great thing about our state government is we have an appellate system untouched by unseemly political calculations.”

Wiley Hibbard, presiding commissioner of Ralls County, said that’s unlikely to happen in his county.

“There’s no change in the county’s position, my position, or the citizens of Ralls County position,” he said by phone Tuesday afternoon. “I don’t see the assent from Ralls County forthcoming.”

Ralls County, as well as Monroe, are the impacted counties under the jurisdiction of the Appeals Court of Eastern Missouri, where Grain Belt filed its case against the PSC.

“Our will to fight this further has not been diminished whatsoever,” Hibbard said, adding that he was not surprised by the Supreme Court’s ruling.

He cast doubt that Grain Belt developers were serious about the project, saying that no one from the Houston-based Clean Line Energy had contacted the county commission in four years. The company has not sought a zoning change for a proposed DC/AC converter station site near the town of Center.

“We think it’s a good decision for the state, not just for our project,” Clean Line’s president, Michael Skelly, told the Post-Dispatch. “The reason you have a Public Service Commission is to have an eye out for what’s good for the state. What the Supreme Court did here is it reasserted the commission’s jurisdiction over transmission lines.”

“We’re going to have to go back through the process in Illinois, but we have a good understanding of what we need to do,” said Skelly. “You go through a bunch of trial and error.”

Even though it could take a couple of years to regain approval in Illinois — a delay that would coincide with the expiration of federal tax credits for wind energy — Skelly said technology-enabled dips in wind costs would still make the project feasible.

“It’s pretty close to what it costs today,” Skelly said, describing cost projections. “We’ll be roughly in the same position because of technology improvements.”

Because Rock Island cannot meet the ownership requirement for qualification as a public utility, there is no need to reach the additional question of whether it also fails the “public use” requirement, as the appellate court concluded. Should the company elect to move forward with the project and reapply for a certificate of public necessity and convenience as a public utility once it moves beyond planning and actually owns, controls, operates, or manages transmission assets, the question of public use can be revisited under the facts and circumstances then present. Any ruling on the question now would be purely advisory. That being so, there is likewise no need to address appellants’ argument that the appellate court’s construction of the public use requirement imposes an impermissible burden on interstate commerce in violation of the commerce clause of the United States Constitution (U.S. Const., art. I, § 8, cl. 3).

Michael Skelly, president of Clean Line Energy, said the ruling "means Missourians are closer than ever to benefiting from the clean, affordable energy and economic boost this transformational infrastructure project will deliver to the Show-Me-State."

He added, "We are now turning our efforts to expediting approval from the Missouri Public Service Commission of this critical infrastructure project so that Missouri can realize these benefits as soon as possible."

Clean Line has been working on its proposed direct-current power line since 2010 but still hasn't been able to start construction. Skelly said he now hopes the project can be online by 2023 or 2024.

“The project has been on standby while we awaited the Missouri Supreme Court decision,” Clean Line President Michael Skelly said. “Now with this decision, we can get back after it.”

While we understand that PJM feels a responsibility to Transource to allow them to fail gracefully at the state level after a protracted review, the facts demand that PJM cancel this project immediately. Millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent to review this project in two states, and landowners are fighting the project with their own attorneys.

The merits of this project are dwindling, the costs of the project increasing, and the timeline is slipping. By now PJM is certainly aware that there is little chance of approval. Until now, landowners have considered Transource to be their opponent, but unless PJM soon exercises its right to withdraw the project, we will hold PJM responsible. PJM will become the target of our media outreach, our legislative efforts, and potentially, our legal efforts as we hold PJM responsible for the tremendous costs incurred by landowners who will ultimately emerge victorious. Further PJM support of this project will be viewed as an abuse of process.

A fiduciary duty is the highest standard of care.  The person who has a fiduciary duty is called the fiduciary, and the person to whom he owes the duty, is typically referred to as the principal or the beneficiary. If an individual breaches the fiduciary duties, he or she would need to account for the ill-gotten profit. His or her beneficiaries are entitled to damages, even if they suffered no harm.

ICF is a global consulting services company with over 5,000 specialized experts, but we are not your typical consultants. At ICF, business analysts and policy specialists work together with digital strategists, data scientists and creatives. We combine unmatched industry expertise with cutting-edge engagement capabilities to help organizations solve their most complex challenges. Since 1969, public and private sector clients have worked with ICF to navigate change and shape the future.

Of all the projects in the region, we feel that most promising is the Clean Line HVDC Project. The Plains & Eastern Clean Line is an approximately 700‐mile DC transmission line that will deliver wind energy from the Oklahoma‐Texas Panhandle region to utilities and customers in the Mid‐South (MISO) and southeastern United States (TVA). The project also involves the construction of AC collector systems to collect and transport the energy generated by wind farms in the “wind alley” region of SPP. The project received DOE approval in early 2016 and construction commenced in late 2017 (Clean Line Energy Partners 2017b).

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) collects, analyzes, and disseminates independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment.

Except in response to a question from a landowner, Project Representatives will not represent that a relative, neighbor and/or friend supports or opposes the Project, even if it’s true.

All communications and interactions with property owners and occupants must respect the privacy of property owners and other persons.

The details of the negotiations with property owners and occupants are to remain confidential unless allowed by the landowner. Project Representatives will not discuss these details with other property owners or other persons unaffiliated with PSO or the Project.

Project Representatives will not ask relatives, neighbors and/or friends to influence the property owner.

While PSO has the legal right to use court proceedings to obtain land rights for the Project, the Project Representatives should not threaten to call law enforcement officers, obtain court orders, or threaten the use of eminent domain.

Project Representatives will respect all communications from property owners to them – whether in person, by telephone or in writing – in which the property owner indicates that he or she does not want to negotiate or does not want to give permission for surveying or other work on his or her property. Unless specifically authorized by PSO, Project Representatives will not contact the property owner again regarding negotiations or requests for permission to survey.

When asked to leave a property, Property Representatives will promptly leave and not return unless specifically authorized by PSO.

If threatened, Project Representatives will promptly and politely leave the property.

Project Representatives will not give the property owner any legal advice.