August 16, 2017
Missouri

Regulators reject controversial power line

By Ray Scherer | News-Press Now | Aug 16, 2017 | www.newspressnow.com

Grain Belt Express opponents in Caldwell County.

The Missouri Public Service Commission on Wednesday unanimously denied a second request by a Houston-based energy firm to build a high-voltage, wind-powered transmission line across northern parts of the state.

Clean Line Energy Partners had filed its application seeking approval for construction of the line in August of 2016. The company has been proposing to build the 780-mile line in order to deliver power from wind turbines in southwest Kansas to electric customers in Eastern Seaboard states.

Opponents had decried the plan, saying it would harm rural land values and would result in health issues for humans and livestock.

The PSC had denied a first application by Clean Line in 2015 for permission to build the line.

In issuing the order, commission members said in part that the company had failed to prove that it had obtained all necessary consent required from counties along the route of the proposed project.

The power line would run from wind farms in western Kansas through Missouri and Illinois to Indiana, where it would connect with a power grid for eastern states. All the other states along its route already have granted approval to the $2.3 billion project.

It’s not clear whether Missouri’s decision will kill the project.

The wind energy company could appeal the denial in court. It could try to win support from counties and apply for a third time to Missouri regulators. Or it could attempt to circumvent Missouri by seeking federal approval to build the line through the state, as it did for an Oklahoma-to-Tennessee power line after Arkansas regulators ruled against it in 2011.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2017/08/16/regulators-reject-controversial-power-line/