Clean Line Abandons Tennessee CCN, Rendering Plains and Eastern DEAD...

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.