Clean Line's REALLY Bad Couple-a Months...

In what is shaping up to be an incredibly rough couple months for Clean Line Energy Partners, several major blows have been dealt to the speculative development company:

Arkansas Full Congressional Delegation Comes Out Swinging

1) Arkansas' Full Federal Delegation Re-Introduces the APPROVAL Act (03/06/17)

On Monday afternoon, Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton, along with Representatives Steve Womack, Bruce Westerman, Rick Crawford, and French Hill, re-filed S.529, the Assuring Private Property Rights Over Vast Access to Land ("APPROVAL") Act. The Act would amend Section 1222 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act to allow a state's governor and public service commission chair the opportunity to reject a federal transmission project if they don't feel like the project is in their state's best interest.

2) Arkansas' Delegation Sends Opposition Letter to Secretary Perry (03/07/17)

Alison wrote about this earlier, so I will just leave the letter here for everyone to see. It's a beauty.

3) Senator Boozman Makes Comments on Talk Business Arkansas (3/12/17)

Senator Boozman made comments during an interview with Talk Business Arkansas' Roby Brock further explaining the delegation's position that the use of Section 1222 of the 2005 EPAct by Clean Line is inappropriate:

In his comments, Mr. Boozman also brought further doubt about need for Clean Line's "product" at Tennessee Valley Authority (We know, Mr. Skelly, this is "bigger than TVA," we know. Whatever.), which brings us to:

Things Don't Look Great for Clean Line at TVA

1) TVA Winter Board Meeting (02/16/17)

It all started at TVA's February 16 board meeting. As you may have read in our January 2017 update, Clean Line and a couple environmental groups have been lobbying the Tennessee Valley Authority to sign a contract for a sizable chunk of wind energy from the Oklahoma panhandle and use Clean Line's proposed Plains and Eastern transmission line to deliver it to them. We explained to you that, if TVA were to sign a contract, the prime time to have done so would have been by December 31, 2016. That date has come and gone, and there was no publicly available contract on January 1, and as of today there still is not.

In past TVA board meetings (specifically August 2016 and November 2016), Clean Line sent their revolving door DOE star, Jimmy Glotfelty, to lobby (*read - "beg") TVA to make a commitment to use their transmission line. At the most recent board meeting held February 16, however, there was a specific lack of anyone representing Clean Line. The only person that showed up (and, she always does) to lobby for them was Chris Lunghino of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

Why do we say that things don't look good for Clean Line at TVA? We have a couple key pieces of evidence. The first involves a presentation Mr. Bill Johnson, President and CEO of TVA, gave during his update at the board meeting. Take a look at the following slide:

Do you see what I see? If not, look a little closer... specifically at the amount of wind and solar energy TVA receives in 2017, and is projected to receive in 2026. They remain unchanged at 3%. What does that mean? Well, it would appear that it means TVA has no plans to purchase capacity for a large chunk of wind energy between now and 2026. You can infer from that what you will. Again, we know, Mr. Skelly, this project is "bigger than TVA." But, where are the other customers? We reported earlier that Georgia Power (GP) is likely out for Clean Line, and that still stands. Georgia Power is only allowed to contract 300 mW of wind power through its REDI program, and the in-service dates for GP's don't mesh with Clean Line's fantasy in-service date.

2) Senator Alexander (R-TN) Reaffirms TVA Doubts on the Senate Floor (03/22/17)

It must be really difficult for Clean Line and its' investors to see the senior senator from Tennessee say this on the Senate floor:

Senator Alexander: If you are watching, we would like to give our thanks to you for making these comments!

Oklahoma State Legislature Moving to Eliminate Wind Tax Credits

1) Oklahoma House of Representatives Passes Legislation to Eliminate State-Level Production Tax Credit for Wind Energy (03/10/17)

As we reported in our January update, the Oklahoma legislature is apparently serious about attempting to fix their nearly $900 million budget deficit. The Oklahoma House made the first move to eliminate early the state "Zero Emissions Credit" for wind energy. Without going into many details, the credit amounts to millions of dollars per year that come out of the state's coffers (paid for by Oklahoma taxpayers) to support companies that are mostly out-of-state (or country, in some instances).

Oklahoma gets a decent-sized chunk of its electricity from wind energy produced in state. Much of the energy produced by newer generators is exported out of the state, therefore Oklahomans are subsidizing wind energy companies for producing energy that largely has little-to-no benefit to the citizens of their own state... aside from the royalties landowners receive for voluntarily hosting the turbines on their property.

Meanwhile, Clean Line would like to potentially use (for the first time) federal eminent domain to force a swath 720 miles long of Oklahoma and Arkansas landowners to give up their property rights to construct its' for-profit transmission venture that could also require Oklahoma taxpayers to subsidize an additional ~2,000 wind turbines with zero in-state benefit... again, except to the landowners who voluntarily host the turbines on their property.

Does that seem fair to you? To me, it doesn't.

2) Oklahoma Senate Panel Approves Rolling Back Wind Tax Credit (03/29/17)

According to a report released today:

OKLAHOMA CITY – Legislation that rolls back a state tax credit for the wind energy industry has been approved by an Oklahoma Senate panel. 

The Senate Committee on Appropriations on Wednesday voted 34-6 for the House-passed measure and sent it to the full Senate for consideration. 

The bill modifies the tax credit for electricity generated by zero-emission facilities like wind turbines. It says facilities must be in operation by July 1 in order to qualify for the credit, instead of the current deadline of Jan. 1, 2021. 

Gov. Mary Fallin has proposed eliminating the credit to increase revenue amid a projected $868 million budget shortfall next year. The tax credit will cost $40 million this year and will average $60 million a year over the next 15 years.

The legislation appears to be poised to pass. We will see if the Oklahoma Senate is as serious about it as the House in the coming days. If the Senate passes the bill, it will be delivered to Governor Fallon for signature.

3) Mario Hurtado says: "No Big Deal" to Losing Oklahoma PTC (03/29/17)

In his typical blustery and arrogant (disconnected?) fashion, Clean Line's Mario Hurtado said the following in a recent article:

Hurtado said HB 2298 should have little impact on a $2 billion high-voltage transmission line that will carry wind energy across Oklahoma and Arkansas to Mid-South and Southeast markets. The Plains and Eastern Clean Line transmission line, a 700-mile project that has been in the works since 2010, will have the capacity to deliver 3,500 megawatts of wind-generated electricity from the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. 

Terminating the tax credits this year, if the bill becomes law, could have an impact on where those wind farms are sited. Hurtado said the companies that will build the more than 2,000 wind turbines needed to feed current through Clean Line’s transmission line base siting decisions on a number of factors, and tax policy is one of those factors. 

“It may change the amount of wind energy that connects to us ... (from) Texas versus Oklahoma — the Oklahoma Panhandle is not that wide (and) the wind doesn’t pay attention to state lines,” Hurtado said. “Unfortunately, that would mean less investment in Oklahoma and the school districts there — that could be a change, and that is certainly something we have made people aware of.”

There you have it, Oklahoma. Whatever, Mario.

4) Mario Hurtado says: "Foundations for generators are being dug and poured in the Oklahoma panhandle right now" (3/25/17)

In another recent article that is full of bluster likely targeted at the Missouri Public Service Commission and Clean Line's investors, Hurtado said the following:

Foundations for generators are being dug and poured in the Oklahoma panhandle right now, Hurtado said. General Electric — which will build converter stations located near Guymon, in Arkansas and near Memphis, Tenn. — has done a lot of engineering work ahead of building the stations, he said.

Pictures or it didn't happen, Mario. Today (03/29/17), you said that if the Oklahoma legislature repeals the in-state PTC, wind developers will just build generators to energize your line in Texas instead of in Oklahoma.

But, just four days ago, you said "foundations for generators are being dug and poured in the Oklahoma panhandle right now." What gives, Mario?

My analysis? Foundations for wind generators are most definitely being "dug and poured" in the Oklahoma panhandle, but they're not being "dug and poured" to supply Clean Line's proposed transmission line. For Mario to imply otherwise is disingenuous, deceptive, and pretty desperate, if you ask me.

You have to have customers for all that stuff to happen, Mario. To date, Clean Line has yet to release a single, legally bound, contractual customer on either the generation or end-use side of its proposed speculative transmission line. Unless and until a sizeable portion of their capacity is subscribed, everything Hurtado and Skelly say is bluster.

Things Don't Look Super Great for Clean Line in Missouri

1) Hearings Held on Clean Line's (latest) Grain Belt Express Application

As you may know, Clean Line had its week-long round of evidentiary hearings at the Missouri Public Service Commission last week. If you're interested about how the hearings went, I will leave that explanation to my friend, Keryn Newman. She wrote an excellent blog post summarizing the events.

2) Neighbors United Scores Victory That Could Dash Clean Line's Hopes in Missouri

In a nutshell, Staff at the MOPSC recommended that: 1) Commissioners deny Clean Line's application, or 2) Commissioners condition Clean Line's CCN with the requirement that they receive assent from all impacted counties. I'll leave you with Keryn's blog post about this decision, which explains how it could affect Clean Line's proposed "Grain Belt Express" line.

Due to State Action, Clean Line's "Rock Island" Project is Effectively Dead

According to a recent article:

House File 603, which Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, called a “long-awaited bill protecting private property rights,” was approved by the House 93-0. 

The bill addresses what he labeled the state’s “largest blight,” the Rock Island Clean Line, an electric transmission line that would affect 1,500 Iowa landowners, as well the development of a reservoir in Clarke County and property owners displaced by Department of Transportation projects. 

“It should be hard to condemn private property, it should not be possible to condemn private property for personal profit, it should be illegal to condemn private property for anything other than public use,” Kaufmann said.

We're with you, Representative Kaufmann. Iowa landowners are lucky to have you.

In Closing

This is already far too long. So if you have made it this far, I really appreciate you reading it. I hope it has been informative and maybe, just maybe, it gives you a little bit of hope in what can feel like a helpless situation.

I just have to close by asking Clean Line's investors: When does enough become enough for you guys? When do you come to the realization that someone else has spent upwards of $200 million of your money and, after nearly a decade, those people haven't produced a single cent of revenue in return for you? And there's really no return in sight, is there? When do you say to yourselves: "We've harassed these people enough. It's time to throw in the towel"?

Maybe that's why you're holding on for so long. I get it. You've spent a lot of money. But, it doesn't make it right for the harassment to continue.

I think the time is (or should be) fast approaching. If you have any sense of decency about yourselves, you should realize how many thousands of people you have negatively affected for the last many years. Have you no conscience? Do you think things are just magically going to get better?

It is time for you to pull the plug.

Clean Line's proverbial pants are on fire...

So, it seems like Clean Line is a little bit touchy these days about their ties to the wind industry. Wind farms? What wind farms? Wind turbines? What are those? Michael Skelly is doing everything he can in his apparent "media tour" to assure folks that they aren't directly tied to the wind industry to which they wish to serve by building their massive, unnecessary transmission line. They even made a post on Facebook recently asserting this:

In a recent interview with the Sequoya County Times, Skelly reiterated this point:

"President of Clean Line, Michael Skelly, on Wednesday insisted that the wind energy industry is completely separate from the construction of the transmission lines."

Aren't you the folks who keep saying that the "grid is maxed out", and that wind farm development will be severely limited if your transmission line is not constructed? What type of energy are you hoping to move, again? I thought it was wind energy?

"Clean Line Energy is independent from any existing or planned wind energy generation"? Why did Diana Rivera say this in Clean Line's official comments on pages 3 and 4 that were submitted to the Department of Energy's triennial congestion study?

So, which is one is it, Clean Line? Does your project, or does it not, involve wind farms that are already planned, in construction, or currently constructed? Where on earth is your credibility, and how do you expect to gain the trust of the people who are to host your for-profit, unnecessary transmission line when you continue to make claims that contradict themselves? This information is readily available. Did you think we wouldn't find it? You should just come out and say it: "We have friends in the wind industry who want to make money building wind farms, and we want to make money building a transmission line." It is really pretty simple to see, don't you think? 

Since that is out of the way, I would like to take a few moments to show everyone just a few of the connections that Clean Line has with the wind industry. I will pull information directly from Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC's website. 

Let's start with Michael Skelly first. According to his profile:

Prior to founding Clean Line, Michael led the development of Horizon Wind Energy from a two-man company to a leadership position in the U.S. wind industry. Before Horizon, Michael developed thermal, hydroelectric, biomass and wind energy projects in Central America with Energia Global.

Lets take a look at what EDP Renewables (formerly Horizon Wind Energy) does:

EDP Renewables North America and its subsidiaries develop, construct, own and operate wind farms throughout North America. Based in Houston, Texas with 30 wind farms and 10 offices across the United States and Canada, EDP Renewables North America has developed more than 4,000 megawatts (MW) and operates over 3,800 MW of wind farms. With approximately 300 employees, EDPR North America’s highly qualified team has a proven capacity to execute projects and achieve goals. 

I am sure Michael Skelly cut all ties with Horizon Wind Energy when it was sold to Goldman Sachs in 2005, right? Of course! Wind power... what is that, again?

Now, let's have a look at Jimmy Glotfelty, co-founder of Clean Line Energy:

Jimmy worked for George W. Bush, for almost eight years, at both the gubernatorial and presidential levels. He led the Bush Administration’s efforts on electricity issues with Congress and the electric utility industry.  In this capacity, he founded Office of Electric Delivery and Energy Reliability at the Department of Energy (DOE) and served as its first Director.  This program is responsible for applied transmission and distribution (T&D) research and led to the creation of the nationally recognized GridWise Alliance. While at DOE Jimmy led the U.S. efforts to investigate the northeast blackout of August 2003 which called for the adoption of many technologies that have greatly improved the reliability of U.S. transmission system today.  Jimmy serves on the board of the Southeast Coastal Wind Coalition and the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council and recently rolled off of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Board of Directors.

If the first emphasis isn't scary enough, given the fact that the Office of Energy Delivery and Reliability is the agency overseeing this entire process and project, the second, third, and fourth should help. Does anyone think Glotfelty cut ties with AWEA after his departure from the board of directors? AWEA is the leading lobbyist organization for the wind industry, after all. What is wind energy, again? Here's another good summary of Jimmy's career, if interested.

Jayshree Desai, Chief Operating Officer of Clean Line Energy:

Jayshree draws from an accomplished background in the wind energy industry to provide leadership at Clean Line. Before joining Clean Line, Jayshree was CFO of Horizon Wind Energy where she was responsible for corporate and project finance, accounting, tax, and information technology.  As CFO, she led Horizon Wind Energy through its sale to Goldman Sachs in 2005, the subsequent sale to Energias de Portugal in mid-2007, and the IPO of the renewables subsidiary in 2008. Prior to working at Horizon Wind Energy, Jayshree was a Director at Enron responsible for Mergers & Acquisitions and previously was a consultant for McKinsey & Company. Jayshree received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Wharton Business School, and serves on the Executive Board of KIPP Houston and on the board of the Wind Energy Foundation.

There's Horizon Wind Energy again. Enron? Do we want someone who was formerly with Enron managing a project that could cross our property? I don't, personally.

Hans Deitweiler, Vice President of Clean Line Energy:

Prior to joining Clean Line, Hans was Director of State Policy for the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), supervising all of AWEA’s direct state legislative campaigns and state regulatory efforts and serving as the primary liaison to AWEA’s regional partners. Previously, Hans was Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Hans has also worked in a variety of policy and advocacy roles with organized labor and other non-profits. Hans holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa.

Dave Berry, Executive Vice President of Clean Line:

Prior to joining Clean Line, Dave was the Director of Finance for Horizon Wind Energy, where he led over $2 billion in project finance transactions and was responsible for investment analysis and transactions. Dave earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and History from Rice University in 2005. He sits on the Board of the Partnership for the Advancement and Immersion of Refugees.

Wayne Galli, Executive Vice President - Transmission and Technical Services:

Most recently, he served as Director of Transmission Development for NextEra Energy Resources, where he was instrumental in developing transmission projects under the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) initiative in Texas. 

And what does NextEra Energy do?

NextEra Energy is North America’s top producer of energy from the wind and the sun, with a greenhouse gas emissions rate among the lowest of any large power company.

I am sure I missed a person or two. You get the point. Clean Line trying to imply that it does not have ties to the wind industry and distance themselves from the very industry that they have had and still have intimate ties with is a lie. Rural, we are. Fools, we are NOT.

Secretary Moniz:

Governors who should mind their own states' business...

So, what does it look like when the governors of two states, Washington and South Dakota, urge the Department of Energy to use Section 1222 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act to remove your property rights in Arkansas for an unnecessary transmission line without so much as even consulting with your governor? This is what that looks like:

And what does the Arkansas governor say when he realizes a letter was sent, basically on his behalf, by two faraway governors who really should mind their own business?

But a spokesman for the Democratic governor of Arkansas, Mike Beebe, said he hasn’t signed off on the letter. “While Arkansas is a member of the coalition, we are not a signee on this letter; in fact, this is the first we’ve seen of it,” Matt DeCample, a spokesman for the governor, said in an email. “We’ve not been involved in the national discussion of this particular issue.”

Mr. DeCample is correct. Arkansas has NOT had a chance to be involved in the national discussion of this particular issue. In fact, it seems as though we are being left out! How is that fair to us? If we're not going to have input into the fate of our land, then why on earth are we a member of this "Governor's Wind Coalition" as Arkansans? Maybe we should contact Governor Beebe and ask! 

http://governor.arkansas.gov/contact/index.php

Something really smells, here!