Attorney general demands information from Grain Belt Express
Matthew Sanders
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said Wednesday that he is demanding documents to back up the claims made about the Grain Belt Express wind energy project.
The project will cross Missouri to deliver power from western wind fields to Illinois. The route will run through Mid-Missouri and a connection is planned from north of Centralia to near Kingdom City. That route includes land in Monroe, Audrain and Callaway counties, according to the Grain Belt website.
The main line will also run through Chariton and Randolph counties.
Invenergy also inked a supply chain deal with Centralia’s Hubbell Power Systems.
“Grain Belt Express has repeatedly lied to Missourians about the jobs it would create, the benefits it would deliver, and the land it seeks to take,” Bailey says in a news release. “We will not allow a private corporation to trample property rights and mislead regulators for a bait and switch that serves out-of-state interests instead of Missourians.”
Bailey has issued a Civil Investigative Demand, similar to subpoena powers, to compel Grain Belt’s parent company, Invenergy, to turn over documents related to its economic, job and environmental claims, marketing and landowner outreach.
Grain Belt Express investigative demandDownload
The 800-mile Grain Belt Express relies on nearly $5 billion in federal funding. The release says the project has filed more than 50 eminent domain lawsuits against landowners “to seize property for a speculative project.”
Grain Belt is reveiwing Bailey’s demand.
“We should be building energy infrastructure in America, but the Missouri Attorney General is instead playing politics with U.S. power,” a project spokesperson said. “His last-ditch and obviously politically-driven attempt to delay construction of a critical American power project comes at a time when our country is facing a national energy emergency — declared by the Administration. Electricity demand is rising across the country, and we urgently need transmission infrastructure to deliver power. Projects like Grain Belt Express are the answer to providing all forms of affordable and reliable electricity to U.S. consumers.”
The project has contracts with 39 municipal utilities in Missouri, including Columbia Water and Light. Project leaders say Grain Belt could save Missouri energy consumers billions of dollars.
The first eminent domain lawsuit was filed in Callaway County, according to reporting in the Missouri Independent.
Grain Belt’s website says construction on Phase 1 is expected to start next year.
Bailey has also sent a letter to the Missouri Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, urging the body to reevaluate data related to Grain Belt’s previous approval.