By Don Corrigan
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Attorney General Andrew Bailey took victory laps last week when the Department of Energy defunded a long-awaited Grain Belt Express electric transmission line through the state.
The $4.9 billion loan guarantee given to the developers of the Grain Belt Express has been canceled, but cities such as Kirkwood, Farmington, Hannibal and Rolla continue to look forward to receiving the line‘s cleaner energy at some point in the future.
Kirkwood Electric Director Mark Petty has long predicted that cheaper, green energy would be in Kirkwood’s future once the utility line delivering Kansas wind turbine energy got past some political and landowner objections. That future may now be delayed.
Both Hawley and Bailey claimed they were major players in tripping up the future of the transmission line. Hawley has referred to the Grain Belt Express project as a “green scam,” a “boondoggle loan,” and as an “elitist land grab.”
Bailey said the project was sold to the people of Missouri as some kind of “Green New Deal,” but that he had forced “a positive first step” in ending the project altogether. He blasted eminent domain use in securing farm property for transmission lines.
“We’ve won a battle in the war for Missouri landowners,” Bailey said in his office press release. “This massive green energy scam, propped up by the Biden Administration to benefit corporate interests at the expense of family farms, has now lost federal backing with a return to responsible leadership.
“The federal government has pulled the plug on a nearly $5 billion taxpayer-funded boondoggle, and Missouri families are better for it,” he added. “My office has fought relentlessly to stop these unconstitutional land grabs. If Invenergy still intends to force this project on unwilling landowners, we will continue to fight every step of the way.”
Project developer Invenergy responded to its Missouri political opponents arguing that they were standing in the way of a cleaner energy environment and a healthier populace. The company noted that power distributed from wind turbines is much cleaner than coal-generated electricity.
“America is energy dominant and an AI powerhouse – and Grain Belt Express will be America’s largest power pipeline,” said Martin Grego, Invenergy spokesman. He added that while the company is disappointed in the energy department’s decision, a bright future remains for clean energy.
Meanwhile, opponents of wind turbine energy got a shot in the arm from President Donald Trump on his trip to Scotland this past weekend.
“It is the worst form of energy, the most expensive form of energy, these windmills should not be allowed,” said Trump, who said the wind turbines have hurt the aesthetics of his golf courses in Scotland.
He added that the wind turbines kill birds and “the propellors rot out after eight years of use” and cannot be recycled or buried for disposal.
The Missouri Sierra Club said all the attacks on wind power are riddled with misinformation. Director Gretchen Waddell-Barwick said moves by state lawmakers against green energy “reek of desperation to satisfy political interests.”
She said the actions are at the expense of Missouri families, who will continue to be harmed by coal-generated electricity and higher electric rates because of the federal action.
Environmental Echo 