A sister project to Missouri’s embattled Grain Belt Express high-voltage power line project received approval from regulators in Illinois.
But the project was dealt an unattractive hand in the process.
The Illinois Commerce Commission approved the hotly contested Rock Island Clean Line high voltage transmission line (RICL).
Illinois’ utility regulatory board did not give the project the power of eminent domain. Landowners will not be forced to sell an easement of face condemnation. Opponents of the Missouri project tell us that without eminent domain, the company “will likely never succe3ssfully negotiate with each and every landowner along a direct path.”
In a news release, “Block Grain Belt Express-Missouri” says that if RICL wants to obtain that authority, they must re-apply and start the long and expensive process over.
They also assert the company may have trouble getting financing without eminent domain. Clean Line has admitted it has obtained only two percent of the total financing they need. The Illinois project must prove it has 100% of its financing before the project can begin.
RICL will not be to obtain financing from ratepayers, and its permit would be revoked if it attempts to obtain any such cost allocation.
Rock Island Clean Line would use high-voltage, direct-current power lines to deliver wind energy from Northwest Iowa to communities in Illinois and points east.
The projects are facing growing opposition with each proposal, according to the Missouri group. There are now active groups in Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, and South Dakota. Groups share the common goal to prevent the private company from obtaining the power of eminent domain and ability to condemn private property for its own profit without proven benefit to pass-through states, or actual need for the power.
The legal hearings at the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) have finished for the Grain Belt Express application for Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (CCN).
“We are very encouraged and thankful that the PSC staff recommended that the Commission does not grant the CCN to Grain Belt Express Clean Line,” Block Grain Belt Express-Missouri spokesperson Jennifer Gatrel said in a news release.
“That is a very important because the Commission relies on the expertise of its staff for technical and legal recommendations. The staff recognized that the proposal does not meet the five necessary requirements to be granted the CCN.”
One staff member of the PSC testified that out of approximately 7,200 public comments that have been received by the PSC regarding the Grain Belt Express transmission line, all but 65 have been in opposition. In September, the PSC held eight public hearings on the Grain Belt Express proposal which were attended by approximately 2,000 people in opposition. The Commission could rule on the case by the end of the year.