Midwest-Plains Was Cancelled, but GBE and Eminent Domain Are Alive
On December 16, 2024, the Midwest-Plains National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) was canceled, and that’s good news for Kansans whose land was within that five-mile corridor. Grain Belt Express is still alive, however, and has received $4.9 billion from the Biden administration in a last-minute attempt to keep the project going. While the cancellation of Midwest-Plains is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t mean landowners are safe from eminent domain, future transmission lines, or energy corridors. The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) still has the right to permit high-voltage direct current (HVDC) projects as public utilities.
The NIETC process is still a part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) policy for identifying areas of grid congestion and designating large swaths of land suitable for construction of long-distance high-voltage transmission lines. The cancellation of Midwest-Plains has mistakenly given many Kansans the impression that the state is safe from future NIETC designations. Renewable energy companies can still apply for corridors under the applicant-driven DOE policy of seeking transmission routes.
Of greater concern is that many Kansans believe that Grain Belt Express has also been cancelled. It hasn’t. While it is true that the Midwest-Plains Corridor overlapped the existing GBE route, the cancellation of the corridor did not cancel Grain Belt Express. Midwest-Plains would have allowed more HVDC lines to be constructed, but Grain Belt Express was always separate from the May 8, 2024 NIETC designation. The owner of GBE, Invenergy LLC, has every intention of moving forward with the controversial project that has seized property from landowners in four states.
The $4.9 billion loan from the Biden administration isn’t the only indicator that Invenergy is committed to making the line a reality. It continues to seek signatures on easement agreements and, in their absence, condemn property owned by holdouts. It is also fighting vigorously in Illinois to have a federal appellate court’s decision reversed, a decision that revoked GBE’s permit to operate in that state. Moreover, Invenergy is appealing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to overrule Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO’s) exclusion of Grain Belt Express from its grid.
Finally, Invenergy is also beginning to conduct an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) — long overdue — in order to justify the loan from the Biden administration. While the project should never have been permitted without an EIS, the DOE has allowed GBE to sidestep numerous aspects of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Now that dollars are finally flowing into the project, Invenergy knows that it must satisfy federal regulations to secure final approval for the loan.
All of the above should constitute a wake-up call to Kansans, who are celebrating the cancelation of Midwest-Plains. The Phase I “Kansas only” part of the GBE line should be of particular concern to state residents. Phase I allows Invenergy to construct a shorter line that would connect to energy infrastructure in Missouri. Land will be sacrificed in order to give Missouri wind power from Kansas. No energy has been allocated for Kansas.
Kansans need to remember that the KCC can give Invenergy or other companies the right to invoke eminent domain at any time in the future, if new lines are planned. That’s a grim reality that did not change on December 16. This is not the time to let our guard down, or do a premature victory lap. Unless there is continued opposition to GBE and strong, tough legislation to stop eminent domain abuse, our land is still at risk. On December 16, a battle was won, but not the war.
Sincerely,
Tammy Hammond
Landowner & Rosewood Services CEO
---
The Midwest-Plains NIETC Violates the Federal Power Act
Midwest-Plains was one of ten energy transmission corridors (also referred to as NIETCs) designated by the Department of Energy on May 8, 2024. Subsequently, the Farm Bureaus of Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and South Dakota sent a joint letter to DOE’s Grid Deployment Office, which issues NIETC designations. Their conclusion was that an applicant-driven, route-specific method of designating National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors violates Section 216(a) of the Federal Power Act (FPA). The letter stated that the FPA allows the DOE to receive input regarding which geographic regions should receive NIETC designations “but not specific projects” needed to alleviate grid congestion. The letter also addresses the existing Grain Belt Express Route.
The FPA allows the DOE to identify regions that might experience grid congestion, but it doesn’t allow the department to propose solutions. As Section 216(a) specifies, the DOE must allow state and regional planning to identify solutions to congestion. Often, long-range transmission lines are not needed. A national, applicant-driven process for designating corridors overrides regional planning and inappropriately favors private companies, such as Invenergy.
A perfect example of this is the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, which already has a long-range transmission portfolio (LRTP) that alleviates grid congestion and precludes the need for Invenergy projects. This is why GBE has been excluded from MISO’s grid. Grain Belt Express was conceived outside of MISO’s normal planning process. In fact, MISO has already planned for connections to the PJM and SSP grids, which Invenergy seeks to unnecessarily duplicate.
Furthermore, the DOE designated a five-mile width for Midwest-Plains, expanding the 150-foot right-of-way for GBE. Drawing a corridor around Invenergy’s existing project shows a clear and unethical preference for a private developer. The FPA directly prohibits the DOE from soliciting or showing preference for projects under private development by designating additional corridors around them.
While Invenergy has petitioned the DOE to narrow Midwest-Plains to one-half mile, the Farm Bureaus point out that the new corridor allows the company to build numerous parallel lines. While Invenergy denies any intention to do so, one must question the company’s eagerness to petition for rights to the line, including requests for fast-track siting and permitting, long before the corridor was announced on May 8, 2024. Section 216(a) of the FPA has been violated by the DOE seizing siting authority from state agencies.
Designation of a NIETC by the DOE enables the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to use its backstop authority, meaning FERC can override any regional protections that prevent eminent domain abuse. In violating Section 216(a), the DOE has engaged in federal overreach that eliminates a state’s ability to evaluate and solve its energy needs. With state controls in place, existing laws granting citizens additional protection against the unfair invoking of eminent domain would remain intact. With the DOE using FERC backstop authority, the federal government makes virtually all decisions regarding power transmission and the use of eminent domain, and it’s a violation of the law that the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) and Legislators have ignored.
What is especially disingenuous is that most studies used by the DOE to identify grid congestion were conducted by private companies and contracted by companies like Invenergy that stand to reap hefty corporate profits from the DOE’s preference for merchant transmission lines.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that utility rates are higher for end-line merchant customers, not cheaper. Midwest-Plains should have no right to exist, especially as it overlays existing private development; but who is to provide federal oversight when the federal government is breaking its own laws?
Sincerely,
Tammy Hammond
Landowner & Rosewood Services CEO
---
Invenergy Claims that Grain Belt Express Is Necessary for the National Defense
Invenergy has used many arguments to justify its long-range electric transmission project from Kansas to Indiana, known as Grain Belt Express (or GBE). These include alleged grid congestion and the need for clean energy. Recently, however, Invenergy spokesmen have claimed that GBE is necessary for the national defense of the United States.
On August 24, 2022, Shashank Sane, Executive Vice President for Transmission for Invenergy LLC, testified before the Missouri Public Service Commission that “Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine has prompted new concerns about national security,” concerns that necessitated accelerating renewable energy deployment through HVDC lines (Direct Testimony of Shashank Sane on Behalf of Grain Belt Express LLC August 24, 2022, FILE NO. EA-2023-0017).
Sane referenced Invenergy consultant Jonathan Monken, who provided “direct testimony” to the same commission on the same day on behalf of GBE (same file number). Monken worked with Convergent Strategies LLC and had been Senior Director for PJM, the grid GBE wishes to connect with in the Northeast. Citing his study “HVDC Transmission: A National Security and Energy Resilience Imperative,” Monken said that U.S. security goes beyond planes and tanks to “electrons and molecules that provide energy needed to execute essential missions.” His position is that the Department of Defense has 500 installations that demand enormous amounts of electricity to operate.
No landowners in Kansas have ever been apprised that they are surrendering the use of their land to combat Russian aggression or cybersecurity threats from hostile governments. No one is disputing that world events are not linked. The Ukraine invasion jeopardized the importation of oil, and an Arab embargo on oil exports created long lines at U.S. gas stations many years ago. But placing the defense of the United States and the free world in the hands of Kansas landowners is a stretch, especially when we see exactly who owns the allegedly patriotic Invenergy LLC.
Invenergy’s investors include Blackstone Inc., a corporation that has $1 trillion in assets that include real estate, hedge funds, and private equity. Its infrastructure group has a stake in renewable energy with Invenergy. But in 2007, the State Investment Company of China agreed to invest $3 billion with Blackstone, which hoped that China would invest in its portfolios. In turn, China hoped that Blackstone would increase its presence in Chinese markets such as the CIC, China’s sovereign wealth fund, established to help the country diversify foreign holdings. The sovereign wealth fund is part of the Chinese national banking system. Additionally, the United Arab Emirates invests in Blackstone’s U.S. and European portfolios.
The other major shareholder of Invenergy is Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (The Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund). Its financial profile is similar to Blackstone’s and was formed to manage pension funds in the province of Quebec. But as canvasbusinessmodel.com says, the ownership structure of Invenergy is not fully understood and has private and institutional investors not readily apparent.
Grain Belt Express is part of a labyrinth of multinational business alliances. Whether one talks of national security or power transmission, the risk of conflicts of interest among these parties is enormous. Are Canada, China, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries contributing to our defense? How is America’s national security strengthened by a Canadian pension fund, the Chinese national banking system, and Arabian investments?
And why are Midwestern property owners being forced to forfeit their land in the name of foreign interests? Invenergy can invoke the national defense, but it is a private, for-profit company with transparency issues. To say that Grain Belt Express is bolstering our country’s national defense is disingenuous. The GBE project is merely a land grab to line the pockets of Chicago fat cats and foreign interests.
Sincerely,
Tammy Hammond
Landowner & Rosewood Services CEO
---
The Health Effects from High-Voltage Overhead Power Lines
People have protested the Grain Belt Express power transmission project for many years and for many reasons. Grain Belt Express is a proposed long-distance transmission line to send power from Kansas to Indiana via high-voltage direct current lines, known as HVDC lines. The 160-foot tall steel towers used in such projects carry two-to-six lines, and now that Grain Belt’s owner, Invenergy Transmission LLC, is planning to begin construction, people are concerned about living beneath these lines, which will carry anywhere from 2,500 megawatts to 5,000 megawatts. Is it safe to live beneath them? Do they pose a health hazard?
These questions stem from the fact that high-voltage lines emit Electromagnetic Field radiation, known as EMF radiation. Such radiation is the very same kind emitted by microwave ovens, cell phones, appliances, and utility lines strung on telephone poles. The amount of radiation from overhead high-voltage lines, however, is much stronger than radiation emitted by smaller devices. While some studies have concluded that EMF radiation from high-voltage lines isn’t dangerous, other studies have concluded that it poses serious risks to human health.
As early as the 1970s, EMF radiation was linked to an increase in the incidence of childhood leukemia. Later studies at major universities revealed a link between strong EMF radiation and Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD. The correlation between EMF and ASD as well as childhood leukemia was based on findings that radiation disrupts the ability of neurons within the nervous system to fire in proper sequence. The body’s entire nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and activities in human cells, are electrochemical in nature. The nervous system is essentially an electrical conductor within the human body, one that is affected by electromagnetic forces.
The phenomenon is not unlike sun spots and solar flares emitting enormous amounts of electromagnetic energy. When these waves of energy hit the earth, they play havoc with electrical grids and everyday appliances. In other words, strong radiation affects how smaller electrical systems operate. This is what happens when EMF radiation from HVDC lines encounters the human nervous system. The human organism can’t function properly when it is overwhelmed with high doses of radiation.
The most important structure within every human cell is DNA. DNA writes the code for every biological process within the human body, including reproduction. When DNA is altered, genetic markers for disease can be switched on, and one of the most common diseases resulting from DNA mutation is cancer. When gene sequences are disrupted, cancer cells develop and rapidly grow until they take over entire organ systems. Cancer is therefore the major concern of those living near HVDC lines. Living in close proximity to high voltage lines also inhibits the production of melatonin, a hormone known to prevent and suppress the growth of tumors in humans.
Genetic mutations also cause birth defects, Down Syndrome, ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as ASD and intellectual disabilities in general. Many researchers believe that living in close proximity to high-voltage lines, especially for long periods of time, may be one of the many causes of these disorders. If solar flares can cause havoc to electrical systems, how much more will living within a few hundred feet from HVDC lines affect the human organism?
A project called Bioinitiative 2012, conducted by physicians and medical researchers, concluded that exposure to even low levels of electromagnetic radiation for prolonged periods of time can be dangerous. It also concluded that exposure to high levels of EMF radiation is related to heart rhythm disturbances such as atrial fibrillation, migraine headaches, malfunctioning of the immune system, anxiety, insomnia, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Invenergy wants to run HVDC lines over property on which we operate part of our company, Rosewood Services, Inc. EMF radiation is of special concern to me since Rosewood serves those who are intellectually and developmentally disabled — individuals who EMF radiation impacts the most. But Invenergy and Grain Belt Express have ignored the fact that we are a healthcare provider. They have claimed eminent domain near facilities where these individuals work, such as the Rosewood Ranch and the Rosewood Winery.
A large percentage of patients served by Rosewood have Autism Spectrum Disorder or various seizure disorders. Some use a therapy known as Vagus Nerve Stimulation. A Vagus Nerve Stimulator is an FDA-approved electrical device that is implanted under the skin of the chest, although stimulators not requiring implantation are in use as well. The stimulators are also used to treat chronic depression, headaches, epilepsy and other disorders that do not respond well to conventional treatment. High-power voltage lines, emitting strong EMF radiation, would interfere with the operation of these therapeutic devices, which are electrical in nature.
So how close to living and working next to these lines is too close? Many states, such as Connecticut, have enacted legislation that prohibits certain facilities to operate near transmission lines without the existence of buffer zones. These include daycare centers, playgrounds, residential areas, schools, parks, and summer camps, to name just a few. Studies mentioned in this letter have concluded that people should not live or work within one mile of HVDC lines. In a 2014 article in the New York Times titled “Long After the ‘80s Scare, the Suspicion of Power Lines Prevails,” Clyde Haberman wrote that, while some studies are quick to dismiss the danger of power lines, the risks have never been proven to be zero.
Grain Belt Express and Invenergy glibly dismiss the risk factors of radiation that would come from their lines. They expect people to farm, eat, sleep, live, and work below or dangerously near power lines carrying 5,000 megawatts. Knowing the dangers of strong EMF radiation, would you be willing to live beneath such lines? Would you want your children to live beneath them? Should anyone risk his or her health so that a for-profit company in Chicago can make several billion dollars? The answer is “no.”
Sincerely,
Tammy Hammond
Landowner & Rosewood Services CEO
Pawnee Rock, KS
---
Grain Belt Express (GBE or GBX) is a controversial project that proposes to transmit electricity from Kansas to Indiana after passing through Missouri and Illinois. It intends to send 5,000 megawatts though high-voltage lines so that Kansas wind power might benefit electric grids in the Northeastern United States. The project, first proposed by Clean Line Energy Partners in 2009, was acquired in 2018 by Invenergy Transmission LLC, a privately-owned company based in Chicago. Invenergy has invoked eminent domain to obtain easements on the property of thousands of Midwestern farmers, homeowners, and businesses.
Eminent domain derives from the “takings clause” of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that the government or its delegate may use land for the public good as long as fair compensation is provided. One of the most notable interpretations of the takings clause resulted from the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision titled Kelo vs. City of New London (the basis for the movie Little Pink House.) Susette Kelo purchased what she regarded as her dream home in 1997 in Fort Trumbull, a park in New London, Connecticut. It was a well-kept, close-knit neighborhood.
In 1998, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals built a plant next to Fort Trumbull, and the city of New London decided that the park was a depressed neighborhood in need of economic development. The city wanted to generate revenue when it learned that Pfizer wanted to expand into Susette’s neighborhood. The city therefore invoked eminent domain over Fort Trumbull so that the New London Development Corporation could seize the land for public use. Susette and her neighbors fought hard to keep their homes, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such economic development was in the public good.
It's important to note the opinions of the dissenting justices. Justice Clarence Thomas claimed that the urban renewal project offered “a vague promise of new jobs and increased tax revenue.” Justice Sandra Day O’Conner wrote that “Nothing is to prevent the State from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carleton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory.” The dissent claimed that “The beneficiaries [of the decision] are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.”
Clean Line Energy Partners began GBX, but there were other renewable energy projects on the books, including one to deliver wind power to Oklahoma, Illinois, Arkansas, and Tennessee (Plains and Eastern Clean Line). Clean Line, however, folded for a number of reasons. The Tennessee Valley Authority didn’t want any of the line’s electricity, and the State of Illinois didn’t regard Clean Line as a public utility acting in the public interest and denied the company a certificate of convenience. The Department of Energy therefore terminated its financial support for the line. Most importantly, however, lawmakers in Arkansas viewed Plains and Eastern Clean Line as an obvious abuse of eminent domain. The state had no intention of allowing a Kelo-like scenario to occur in its jurisdiction.
In the aftermath of Kelo vs. City of New London, the Institute for Justice, which had represented Susette
and her neighbors, warned that eminent domain abuse would continue and launched a campaign titled Hands Off My Home. Within five years of the U.S. Supreme Court verdict in 2005, forty-three states enacted legislation to prevent the abuse of eminent domain in the name of economic development, and nine state supreme courts restricted the use of eminent domain for the same reason. Because of these proactive measures, forty-four projects that sought to invoke eminent domain for private gain were shut down.
But why didn’t Kansas legislators or the Kansas Corporation Commission adopt the same tough measures to protect its citizens? On July 1, 2007, the Kansas legislature enacted K.S.A 26-501a, which prohibited the taking of private property by eminent domain for transfer to a private entity. On the same day, K.S.A 26-501b was enacted, an amendment that stipulated that the Kansas legislature could authorize eminent domain for “private economic development purposes.” In essence, Kansas did nothing at all to protect its citizens. The amendment to K.S.A 26-501a allowed Kansas to commit the same abuse as the New London Development Corporation.
As for the Kansas Corporation Commission, they granted the permit for Grain Belt Express because Invenergy was touting job creation for the state and an economic boon of $7 billion to $9 billion for the area. The KCC acted no differently than the city of New London. Eminent domain could be invoked for private economic development and gain at the expense of Kansas landowners regardless of the devastating impact GBX would have on property owners who treasured their homes and land as much as Susette had valued her dream home in Fort Trumbull.
But it’s dubious that any economic windfall will benefit Kansas at all. Invenergy has pledged that construction of the line will result in approximately 8,000 jobs in Kansas, but given that the state’s labor pool would not support this number, the jobs would be allocated to out-of-state residents. The jobs would be temporary, and there are no specifics as to where $7 billion of economic investment would come from. One can hear the echoes of Justice Thomas’s words about “a vague promise of new jobs and increased tax revenue.” But the larger point is that after the Kelo decision, granting eminent domain for private corporate gain should have been off the table in Kansas.
While legislation is occasionally introduced into the Kansas Legislature that would prohibit eminent domain abuse, it always dies in committee. It’s obvious that, while some Kansas lawmakers take the issue seriously, Kansas Legislative leadership doesn’t. One can only speculate as to why these elected individuals do not want to take a stand on seizing land for private economic development, but surely the role of lobbyists cannot be dismissed. Again, one can hear the echoes of the U.S. Supreme Court dissent in 2005, which predicted that people with disproportionate influence and power in the political process will be favored over the average citizen.
K.S.A 26-501b also stipulated that eminent domain could be invoked by a utility. This is not uncommon, but as the State of Illinois stated for both Plains and Eastern Clean Line and Grain Belt Express, these merchant lines with a “transmission utility status” only are not valid utilities operating in the public good. No one is forced to buy energy from a merchant transmission line.
It's disturbing that the KCC cannot see the parallels between GBX and Plains and Eastern Clean Line. Grain Belt Express is running into all the same problems as Plains and Eastern Clean Line — permitting issues, claims of eminent domain abuse, a lack of funding, a lack of customers, and an uncertain future alliance with the Department of Energy. Surely it is madness for the KCC and State Legislators to allow eminent domain to be invoked when the project hangs in limbo. Surely it is eminent domain abuse when land is taken for a project that has remained speculative for over twelve years. And as of now, the Midwest Independent System Operator, or MISO, has not included GBX on its grid because it questions whether GBX can deliver affordable electricity. It is a project with “ever-shifting assumptions and specifications.”
Why is Kansas beholden to a company that is interested in private economic gain rather than the farms and legacies of Kansans? Every Kansas Legislator, state or federal, should be made to answer one simple question: Are you for or against this land grab that constitutes federal overreach and eminent domain abuse?
One might say that Invenergy is the Pfizer of Kansas. It seeks economic benefit at the expense of Kansas landowners — the average person like Susette Kelo who wanted to preserve a simple way of life and hold onto her home. The U.S. Supreme Court dissent got it right: political influence and big corporations are abusing eminent domain. For the record, the Fort Trumbull urban renewal development never materialized. By 2010, Susette Kelo’s neighborhood consisted of vacant lots that generated no tax revenue for the city of New London. After Hurricane Irene hit the area in 2011, the neighborhood was turned into a trash dump for storm debris. Will this be the fate of farmland, homes, and businesses that have been in Kansas for generations? The answer to that question lies in the hands of the KCC and our Legislators.
Sincerely,
Tammy Hammond
Landowner & Rosewood Services CEO
Pawnee Rock, KS