To the editor: 

Grain Belt Express, a controversial project to transmit Kansas wind power to states in the Midwest, the Great Lakes, and the Northeastern United States, has been touted as a major victory in America’s quest to transition to renewable energy by 2050. Invenergy, the owner of Grain Belt Express (known as GBE or GBX), has run a public relations campaign since acquiring GBX in 2019, one that promises power, jobs, and economic growth and investment to Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana — indeed, to the entire Midwest.

But there’s a problem with the PR about this sea change in energy generation and transmission: The State of Kansas isn’t going to receive any power directly from Grain Belt Express. This is an insult to Kansans, who are sacrificing their land to eminent domain so that others can benefit from the state’s precious natural resource. Since 2009, the entire project was and is predicated on the available wind in southwest Kansas, but it’s all for export.

Missouri has aggressively fought Grain Belt Express for years, and it, too, was originally not supposed to receive any energy from GBX. Although the project remains extremely unpopular in the Show Me State, regional and state leaders ultimately negotiated an agreement by which GBX would make 50% of the transmission line’s capacity available to Missouri. This would be realized by the addition of the Tiger Connector Line, which would be a 36 mile line running from the existing GBX route in Monroe County to a point in Callaway County, where it would connect with both MISO and Missouri’s Associated Electric Cooperative transmission line. Therefore, 2,500 megawatts of the line’s proposed 5,000 megawatts of capacity would be available for purchase by Missouri utilities. Former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback waffled on the project, but at one point he did attempt to negotiate 25% of the line’s capacity for Kansas as well, but no agreement ever materialized.

So how did Invenergy (and its predecessor, Clean Line Energy Partners) sell the idea to the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) in the first place? A look at the claims made by Invenergy and Grain Belt Express on their websites, in town hall forums, and to the Department of Energy might provide the best short answer. On the Grain Belt Express website (the Your Kansas Snapshot page), the company promises $1.2 billion in savings over the next 15 years “... with 19,350 jobs created during construction of the line and the next generation that will connect the line.” Bringing Missouri into the equation, various corporate literature and newspaper articles cite a projected savings of $7 billion to $9 billion in electricity costs by 2045. As for total jobs created, the estimate is 22,300 jobs. If one does the math, Missouri seems to be getting far more savings but far fewer jobs. But website content is often vague, misleading, or contradictory. Does the Kansas Snapshot Page mean that the entire project will create 19,350 total jobs rather than that same number for Kansas? The answer is “probably” since other projections have Kansas receiving about 8,000 to 9,000 jobs.

Are you confused yet? The number of jobs, the extent of electricity savings, and the timeframe for these benefits to accrue, vary widely depending on where you look and what you read. And what does it mean when Grain Belt says that some of these jobs will be created for “... the next generation that will connect the line?” The statement is so vague as to have no meaning. Won’t jobs during construction “connect the line?” Does the statement refer to future projects or maintenance?

There is also considerable support for GBX coming from politicians who favor the construction of the line. The Kansas Governor’s Office claims that Grain Belt Express “will power Kansas and other states.” Others talk of GBX helping Kansas with “homegrown power.” How is this going to be achieved if Kansas isn’t getting any power from GBX?

Other proponents of Grain Belt Express explain that savings will be realized because even if energy is not purchased directly from GBX, various grids such as MISO and SPP (the Midwestern Independent System Operator and the Southern Power Pool) are connected, and power can be allocated according to regional and seasonal needs. This is all well and good, but isn’t this also a bit vague and speculative? Are landowners in Kansas literally supposed to “sell the farm” based on ever-shifting economic and energy projections or speculation on how complex, interconnected electric grids might operate over the next 20 years? MISO, in point of fact, has declined to allow GBX onto its extensive grid at present because it has neither sufficient funding nor enough customers. Allowing GBX to operate on the grid under such conditions could result in higher utility rates, although Invenergy vehemently denies this.

As for job creation, let’s assume that GBX intends to create approximately 8,500 jobs. At present, there isn’t an existing labor pool that would sustain the creation of 8,500 jobs. This estimate is further eroded when one factors in the number of people selling their homes and moving because they don’t wish to live beneath high-voltage power lines. Stating how many jobs would ideally be needed to construct the line is not the same as saying how many jobs are actually available in the post-pandemic labor pool in 2024. How exactly is the economic boon to Kansas going to take place? What specifically does it mean when Invenergy states that Kansas will benefit by an investment to energy infrastructure?

All of the above PR and optimistic projections amount to hyperbole in order to sell the project. The bottom line is that Invenergy is using GBX to export Kansas wind power to other states in the Midwest and Northeast, the initial connection being to PJM, or the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland grid. If you read company specs and claims closely, as well as the sites of politicians backing the venture, you’ll see that they are proudly and loudly proclaiming that Kansas electricity is being delivered to markets elsewhere — that the wind so abundant in Kansas is going to be transmitted to other areas in the country to win the new green energy revolution.

But what about Kansas citizens? What about those making the sacrifice? What of those who will lose their legacy homes and farms forever in the State of Kansas because the KCC quickly and arbitrarily declared a merchant transmission company to be a utility operating in the public good? Whenever you read projections about energy, savings, and jobs, remember that GBX is a merchant transmission line — a privately-owned company — and no one is obligated to buy a single volt of electricity from it.

There’s no GBX energy off-ramp for Kansas. Statements about how Grain Belt Express will “power up” Kansas should be taken with several grains of salt. As for the rest of the statistics, the truth is that no one can predict with any accuracy what the benefits may or may not be in the future. It’s all speculation. There’s an old Latin saying that is warranted here: caveat emptor, or let the buyer beware.

Tammy Hammond, Landowner & Rosewood Services CEO

Pawnee Rock