Well, it's been quite a while since I've done a blog post. As it turns out, life DOES happen after Clean Line. It has taken over four years to get to this point, but I can now definitively say that the Arkansas portion of the Plains and Eastern project is, in fact, DEAD. Why do I say this?
Shortly after the Department of Energy and Clean Line mutually agreed to part ways, Mr. Skelly attempted to sew the seeds of doubt in landowners, investors, and anyone else who would listen to his bluster that the project was not, in fact, dead... rather, it was "on a much slower track in Arkansas and Tennessee." We all knew better, but some egos (*coughSKELLYcough*) don't allow the acceptance of failure. The facts always come out in the end.
Not only has the Department of Energy nullified their contract with Clean Line, recently there has been some word that Clean Line is abandoning it's easement options in Arkansas. In addition to that, this past Friday (7/13/18), Clean Line's Dave Berry submitted a letter to the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) requesting that their Certificate of Convenience and Necessity be nullified in that state. Here's that letter:
And, just like that, it was over. After more than four years, many thousands of dollars, countless hours of research, writing, Facebooking, talking to people, meetings and booths, sleepless nights, strain on relationships and future plans, and pretty much everything in-between: it is OVER.
Congratulations, Arkansas landowners! For me, personally, it is difficult not to be bitter. But I won't be. As with all experiences in life, valuable lessons are learned, new and amazing friends are made, and you just have to try to do what you can to protect what's yours and grow from the experience. It has been a really wild ride, no doubt. This is likely the last blog post on this subject I will make, as I will probably leave it up to the other professionals I have met along the way to unearth the rest of the Clean Line saga... it promises to get interesting very soon.
Thank you to each and every one of you who have read and provided support to us along the way. I would hope that the blog that Alison and I have created together chronicling our experience with Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC, will serve as an illustration of exactly the WRONG way to develop infrastructure in this country... "clean" or otherwise. Potential developers take note.
Well, except when a private company such as Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC is paying the salaries of the people who are completing and analyzing Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC's application, of course. Could this smell any more like collusion and corruption if it tried? What are you hiding, DOE?
The people you work for want answers, and they want them NOW, Secretary Moniz.
The German Federal Cabinet just required new HVDC transmission lines to be placed underground. Why? Apparently Germans object en masse to 150' tall, 200' wide transmission lines being constructed within a stone's throw from residences and marring beautiful countryside, too. Imagine that, right? According to the German Energy Blog:
Yesterday’s decision paves the way for a faster and supposedly more accepted grid expansion. This shall lead to more acceptance, as in many places residents raised major concerns against overhead lines, Federal Minister of Economics, Sigmar Gabriel said.
1. Priorityof Underground Cabling for New HVDC Projects
The draft bill changes the provisions in the Act on the Federal Requirement Plan (Bundesbedarfsplangesetz – BBPlG). Draft Sec. 3 para 1 BBPlG gives priority to underground cables in case of HVDC projects. Close to residential areas overhead lines shall be in general not admissible (Draft Sec. 3 para 4 BBPlG).
These changes concern primarily the major north-south routes as SuedLink (South Link) or South East HVDC. Both lines – originally planned as overhead lines – have faced substantial protest of the public, especially in the Federal State of Bavaria. With the amendments pubic acceptance shall improve.
2.Extension of Pilot Projects for Three-Phase Electric Power Lines
In opposition to HVDC lines the DC cable projects retain their character as pilot projects. The reason for this difference is that the risks (technical risks and costs risks) of underground cable are lower for DC transmission. Furthermore less experience exists.
Nevertheless the pilot projects shall be extended. The draft bill lists four projects in the BBPlG where an installation of underground cables is admissible if certain criteria are fulfilled (e.g. short distance to residential buildings: less than 400m in case of a zoning plan, less than 200m in outside areas). The draft BBPlG stipulates that an installation of underground cables is also possible if the criteria for an installation are only fulfilled for a section of the entire power line.
3. Next Steps
The bill will now undergo the parliamentary process, including readings in the Bundestag. The aim is to conclude the discussions in autumn, so that the law can enter into force quickly and the necessary planning of the transmission lines can be started or continued swiftly.
I had to use Google Translate to translate the document into English from German, but, according to the legislation directly:
With the changes in the federal law requirements plan is for the planning and Construction of HVDC lines a priority of underground cabling in the Bundesfachpla- tion introduced. The broad acceptance of the citizens is a key element for the success of the energy turnaround. In particular, described the construction of HVDC lines There are special challenges. The increased use of underground cables can optionally contribute to the acceptance of these urgently needed Strengthening projects. From a technical point of view, between the AC and the DC area to distinguish. In the power transmission over long distances by means HVDC underground cabling has fewer risks in terms of technical implementation and the costs as a relatively underground cabling of rotation power lines over long distances. In addition, more experience is available with DC current underground cables over longer distances than with three-phase underground cables before.
and:
In DC area, the existing principle that the route planning Overhead lines based vice versa. In HVDC lines underground cabling is the rule. In the vicinity of residential areas of the overhead line is even always un-admissible. This is the highest level of acceptance for this new Created DC lines.
and:
§ 3 BBPlG - new - is the central norm, the prioritization of underground cabling will be implemented for the new HVDC lines.
So, as a country, what are we going to do? Germany is already going through this. The people have spoken there, and they will continue to speak here: the status quo is unacceptable. The people will not be mowed over by a massive overhead HVDC transmission line in Germany that is necessary, and they most definitely will NOT be mowed over by a private LLC in the United States for a massive overhead HVDC transmission line that is absolutely NOT necessary.
Listen, I am a progressive. I don't get any money from the Koch brothers, and I sure don't think the Keystone Pipeline would be a fantastic addition to our country, but at least the states have the option of choosing whether or not to give eminent domain to TransCanada. I am in favor of renewable energy expansion, but it's going to have to be done properly. The technology exists to put things like this underground, despite what Clean Line tells you. One of the proposed transmission lines in Germany that caused this is a 500 mile, 500kV, 4,000mW HVDC line, the SuedLink. Sound familiar? Clean Line has only one reason they don't want to put it underground: return on investment for the executives and their billionaire investors. But, you know what? I don't care about Clean Line's return on investment. What I care about is being treated with respect, my friends and neighbors being treated with respect, and I want to see our future infrastructure be built properly. There are going to be a lot of projects that come along. Some of them will be good ones, and some of them will be bad ones. Clean Line's projects, in my opinion, are bad ones, and they are being developed by, quite frankly, a few arrogant and potentially corrupt people. The people aren't going to accept that. To any progressive lawmakers who may be reading this, or any others for that matter: If you want to get any of this kind of stuff done, you're going to have to start listening to the people. Bypassing state authority isn't going to do it, Senator Heinrich. The status quo is over. Social media will not allow the Clean Line model to work. It just won't. Take a lesson from the Germans who are a few years ahead of us. Why are we all still here? I don't have an answer for you.
Dave and I have to apologize for being absent bloggers
lately. It’s not that there hasn’t been a lot going on in the Clean Line world,
it’s simply the time of year. Things
that we’ve put off as long as possible to deal with Clean Line can’t be put off
any longer. Fences need to be built. Gardens and crops need to be put in the
ground. And, as Jennifer Gatrel so powerfully mentioned in her HB 1027 testimony
before the Missouri House of Representative’s Environment and Energy Committee,
for many of us, our farms are our lives:
“This is our business. This is our place of business. It is
our livelihood. It is our vacation destination and it is our retirement… all
rolled into one.”
(We should note here that the hearing for HB1027, which would hinder Clean Line's access to eminent domain for its Grain Belt Express line, had to be split into two days because so many landowners came out to testify in favor of the bill.)
Okay, do we really care that the Zilkahs rub noses with Ms.
Wintour? Of course not. And a truly sincere congratulations to Daniel and
Janie. Marriage is a wonderful, infuriating, brilliant endeavor.
Do we care about Daddy Ziff’s “Rosebud Made of Stone”? Nah. The idea is awesome, even if the rock thing was sketchy as all get out. The
truth is… I’ve worked in Westchester. There’s not a lot that surprises me
anymore.
I just wish all these people’s venture capitalist relatives would get
their damn paws off my mother-in-law’s property. And off the property of every
angry, hurt, confused, hardworking, taxpaying Okie, Arkie, or Tennessean who
actually worked their tail off for their small “piece of the pie”, and who deserve
better than to be forced to give up what they’ve busted their knuckles for so
rich people can get richer.
As Jenny so perfectly put it, yet again:
“I cannot tell you the amount of work and worry… I have met
with veterans that have stood up and cried at the thought of losing their sweat
equity in their farm. I have met with
women who have lost their hair and who have had to go on antidepressants.”
You want health effects? I’ll give you health effects. And
the line’s not even built yet. Though apparently our only real objection to this project is what it’ll do to the view:
Burn, landowners! Burn! So now we know exactly what they think
about us. I know, I know—you’re thinking that’s not an actual quote. Surely
Clean Line with their “we are so deeply concerned about landowners’ concerns”
rhetoric would have denounced such a dismissive statement, but no… Rather, they
posted a link to the article on their Facebook page. I think that qualifies as a pretty
strong endorsement.
And speaking of the “well-funded”…
Recently, “Team Clean Line Energy Partners”, via Michael
Skelly, via the Power of Wind (which oddly claims to be leading a movement for “fairer
energy policies”) and the AWEA, issued a plea for signatures on a letter
bemoaning the fact that “well-funded anti-wind energy groups are trying to get
Congress to oppose the common-sense energy policies that would allow wind power
to continue to expand.”
(“Well-funded” is code for Koch money. I can say that
because my progressive street cred includes a presidential vote for Nader)
Now, he seems to be talking about the Production Tax Credit (I'm somewhat amazed they didn't bash oil and gas subsidies. It's kind of required...), but I’m
going to go on the record here anyway and say that, as a group, we get nothing
from nobody. Our flyers, our signs, our gas, our time… all of that comes out of
our own pockets. We survive on each other. On the people who give what they
can, when they can. We have no loaded lobbyists,
so forgive me if I don’t shed too many tears for one industry fighting a slightly
different one. (And Big Wind seems to be operating with a massive Napoleon
complex—Nothing must be done that can in any way, shape, or form hinder the
holy development of poor, little, falsely maligned wind! NIMBYs and burdensome long-eared bats, consider yourselves warned!)
Our only lobbyists are the people we elect to send to Washington
and Little Rock, and in this situation, though I may disagree with them on
much, they have served the people I love well. You can call that Koch influence if it makes
it easier to sleep at night while eighty-five year old Mrs. Stockton sits at
her window looking out and worrying about her future. I believe the legislation
and resolutions we’ve seen over the last few months are the honest result of
the thousands of phone calls, emails, and letters our representatives received
in the last year. I believe it’s the system working the way it’s actually
supposed to. If you’re not willing to entertain that possibility, you can’t
hope to look at this thing objectively. By the way, I should mention that both
the cities of Ozark and Dyer passed resolutions in opposition to Clean Line
just last night. And Quitman passed one some time ago. We had no idea... just in case anyone was thinking all these resolutions were the result of a few vocal agitators.
Oh sure, everyone has a bias. I expressed mine pretty
clearly in the first section… and in every endless blog post I’ve written on
how totally inappropriate eminent domain is in this situation. But what happens when you don’t learn from
your bias? That’s the question… Well, you might try to solve the perceived “balkanization”
of the transmission permitting process in our country by using a concept painfully
similar to one already rejected by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, as
well as by the people most directly affected by it.
I’d like to include some
quotes here from the lawyer whose working paper included the argument that
local/state control over siting is ineffective because state and local
governments are more responsive and accountable to their constituents than
federal agencies. However, it clearly states on the bottom of each page that
the reader is not to cite or quote from the paper without permission. Odd to
reserve a right for yourself so similar to one you readily endorse violating
for others.
“Basically, what the Federal Government has told us, in essence,
implicitly--this is what I derive from their failure to respond to the State of
Pennsylvania--is there is going to be a superhighway
of power lines across Pennsylvania, and there is nothing anyone can do about
it. The Federal Government is going to take over this effort and put those
lines across the State of Pennsylvania.
Well, I have news
for them. Pennsylvania is full of a lot of people who are concerned about this,
whether they are in small towns or urban areas, and, as we are going to be
speaking to tomorrow, rural areas in Pennsylvania, farm communities. Most of those
counties designated there are in rural communities. If the Federal Government
and the Department of Energy or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or
anyone else in this town wants to fight about this, we are ready to fight, and
we will fight morning, noon, and night until our State, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
is treated equitably.”
Now, if Dave were writing this, right here is where he’d get into Jimmy
Glotfelty’s ties to Section 1221 and 1222 (by way of his advocacy of the
processes that lead to their creation). No, he wasn’t at the DOE when the sections went
through in 2005, but his fingerprints are all over them.
So, how do you ram home a policy that essentially steals the states’ authority to participate in decisions that affect their own
constituency? You use two words: “jobs” and “taxes”. Does it work? Well, it
sure didn’t in Arkansas, and it looks like Missouri isn’t that impressed
either:
Bonus points: Watch Mark try to explain how Clean Line intends to work solely within the confines of Missouri’s state laws/PSC. “Pay no attention to that parked 1222
application for Grain Belt behind the curtain!”
Maybe some of the legislators
had already been made aware of Mr. Skelly’s testimony in that regard. I’ve
posted it before, but hey…
Skelly said Clean Line’s application for Section 1222
authority for Grain Belt Express is still pending at DOE but inactive. And the
company would exhaust efforts to persuade state regulators to approve the
project before turning back to the federal government.
“We would look at the no and figure out a way to turn it
into a yes,” he said.”
Or, how about Clean Line's tactic of attempting to obtain the right of eminent domain before signing easements? They wish to obtain easements on a "voluntary" basis, but aren't going to try to do so until they can hit landowners over the head with the "eminent domain" hammer:
Who pays for all that cheap energy? Not the bottom line.
So why? Oh, Lordy, why are we here in the first place? Why
build this line at all? There must be some deep, driving need, right? Utilities
that can’t keep the lights on? The need for a transmission backbone through the
country?
Ah, no. Like Jenny said, it’s all business. It’s the
business of development. Of transmission. Of speculation. Of bringing “the very
best wind” to markets on the East Coast that haven’t asked for them. If it’s a
backbone, it’s a fossil. An idea ten years old being rapidly usurped by newer
tech, local utility scale generation, and conservation. Want to know where “the
very best wind” is? It’s everywhere. And it’s located close to the load centers that might want to use it.
With Dragonfly proposing Arkansas’ first real wind farm to
deliver 80MW of true homegrown juice (assuming they can buck the Napoleon thing and actually work with surrounding landowners) and AEEC getting into solar farms it’s only a matter of time before Clean Line’s proposed 500MW guilt deposit in
our state is a paltry drop in our renewables bucket. It’s certainly not worth the damage
it would do to so many people. Why? Because jobs and taxes aren’t everything. And because 500MW of locally produced wind power fueling permanent, local jobs and tax revenue is infinitely preferable to imports. If the cost of wind is coming down as much as Clean Line claims, there is no reason it's generation should be restricted to the panhandle. Last week there was a story about a farmer in Oklahoma who had shifted to wind development as an alternative means for income. Arkansas farmers deserve to be able to make their own decisions on that same opportunity.
Which brings me, finally, to the question of who’s gonna buy
Clean Line’s tainted juice? I’m not
talking about whether rapid response gas plants or other baseload generators
will be required to ramp up production to fill in windy gaps. And, yes, we’ve
heard them say over and over that there won’t be any end user/utility contracts
until after the permitting. You’ve heard us say, over and over, that generation
potential and an “if you build it, they will come” attitude is insufficient to
justify the use of eminent domain. That’s not what I’m talking about either. I’m
asking what company or utility is willing to dip a toe into the “Bog of Eternal
Stench” the execution of this project, if permitted, will become?
As someone who actually has talked to hundreds of
landowners on the route (as well as their neighbors, who get an extra raw deal
since they receive no remuneration for their property value loss), I can tell
you that this thing is going to get ugly. Not a threat, but a simple
observation. This is seven hundred miles of Bundy Ranch with the exception that the vast majority of these people aren't wealthy ranchers and actually own the land at issue. And, for them, it’s not just about the money.
It’s about respect. Or the lack of it.
Knock on a front door on the route and
ask them the story of their property. In most cases you better have forty
minutes and a notebook. These aren’t short-term apartments we’re talking about,
but parcels handed down through generations. Sorry, but there aren’t enough windmills in the panhandle to trump this image (and yes, she'd just gotten home from church):
Not when there are gentler, more effective,
and less damaging ways to go green. Who in their right mind is willing to tie their public
reputation to a project that unnecessarily steals land from grannies?
Entergy Arkansas today filed a power purchase agreement with the Arkansas Public Service Commission for a 20-year supply of solar energy from a solar facility near Stuttgart, Ark. The large-scale solar farm will begin construction in spring 2016 and be ready to connect to the grid by mid-2019.
The facility, to be called Stuttgart Solar, will consist of solar panels covering nearly 500 acres of land capable of producing 81 MW of electric power. This will be the first large-scale renewable energy facility in Arkansas.
In response to today's news Glen Hooks, chapter director for the Arkansas Chapter of the Sierra Club, issued the following statement:
“The clean energy revolution has now officially begun in The Natural State. As our first home-grown renewable energy project, this is a truly historic announcement. The Sierra Club congratulates both Stuttgart Solar, Entergy, and NextEra on this move and looks forward to welcoming Arkansas solar energy into our state's power supply.
The Sierra Club has long advocated for Arkansas to generate our own solar and wind energy here at home, just as our neighboring states have done for years. Today's announcement proves Arkansas is ready to get started as a renewable energy leader.”
What is this "pending energy bill"? The 2005 Energy Policy Act. What did that bill include? Section 1222. The Department of Energy and Clean Line have some explaining to do. The people will not stand for this corporate abuse of power. Conflicts of interest abound.
