TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) — The Biden administration approved a $4.9 billion loan guarantee for a controversial project to dissect Kansas with an electric transmission corridor.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it would be giving a conditional loan to Grain Belt Express LLC as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America plan.
If finalized, the 2,500-megawatt interregional transmission line would run approximately 578 miles from Ford County, Kansas, to Callaway County, Missouri.
The project will connect three regional grids: the Southwest Power Pool, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, and Associated Electric Cooperative Incorporated.
The DOE highlights several reasons to move forward with the project, such as improving grid reliability and resilience, alleviating congestion and reducing consumer costs, meeting future generation and demand growth and increasing clean energy integration.
The loan comes in the form of a conditional commitment. The DOE describes a conditional commitment as “a loan or a loan guarantee to a project on the terms and subject to conditions set forth in a term sheet negotiated between DOE and the applicant.”
The project has sparked concerns about eminent domain being used to move landowners out of the way of the project. Pawnee County Attorney Douglas McNett expressed his concerns:
“I think where the confusion has arisen between the Grain Belt and the Department of Energy’s proposed energy corridor is it looks like the Department of Energy simply used the schematics or the drawing that Grain Belt has established privately as their basis and just said ok we’ll go 2.5 miles either side of that grain belt transmission line,” said McNett. He says Pawnee County does not have concerns with the transmission line itself.
Sen. Roger Marshall’s office released a statement about the proposal earlier this year.
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s plan to federalize the approval process for future transmission lines, including the use of eminent domain, if needed, is wrong. I have stood firm in my opposition to giving the federal government the ability to overrule states on local projects and will continue to push back on this Administration’s overreach of power. We must let Kansans be the ones who approve new projects for their communities, not Washington DC bureaucrats.”
Resources
- General NIETC information
- Frequently asked questions
- NIETC Phase 2 Preliminary List Public Release Document
- NIETC Final Guidance Document
- NIETC Guidance Document Fact Sheet
- NIETC Designation Process Graphic
- How Consumers Are Harmed by the Lack of Transmission
KSN News’ Carina Branson contributed to this article.