To the Editor:

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 5-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 canceled. 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. 

Tammy Hammond

Pawnee Rock