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Hawley: DOE will put a stop to Grain Belt Express

A U.S. Senator from Missouri says the U.S. Department of Energy Secretary will be putting a stop to the Grain Belt Express.

On social media, Josh Hawley said he talked with Secretary Wright about it on Thursday. Earlier this week, Missouri’s Attorney General Andrew Bailey sent a letter to the department asking them to cancel a loan guarantee for the project.

Missouri Farm Bureau President Garrett Hawkins said he’s pleased to see the commitment from President Trump and the Energy Department to halt a loan guarantee and calls it a massive victory for property rights.

The Grain Belt Express project would construct transmission lines across Missouri to transport wind-generated energy from Kansas to Indiana. Eminent domain has been a concern of some landowners as work on the project continues.

Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe tells Brownfield it’s not right for farm families to lose their farmland due to eminent domain and there are better ways for companies to work with landowners.

“They should work in partnership with property owners. Most property owners I know along that corridor, that’s their biggest problem. They don’t want someone coming in and telling them we’re coming to take your land,” says Kehoe. “They’d rather be part of a conversation on we want to get energy across your state and drop some lines to feed some of the smaller cities. How do we accomplish that together?”

Invenergy, the company overseeing the Grain Belt Express, responded to Hawley’s social media post, calling it bizarre. The company said Hawley is attempting to kill the largest transmission infrastructure project in U.S. history that’s already been approved in four states and is aligned with the president’s energy agenda.  

Graphic credit: The Grain Belt Express, Invenergy