Today U.S. Senator Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a follow-up letter to Energy Secretary Granholm, urging transparency from her Department on its proposed designation of the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC), which is projected to cut across the entirety of Missouri.
“Constituents in my state have rightfully complained that the proposal lacks essential information needed to adequately provide comments on the plan,” wrote Senator Hawley.
“I have previously called on you to rescind this proposal. And that would be the right thing to do. But at the very least, to respond to serious concerns of constituents in my state, you should disclose the exact location of the proposed corridor, notify the affected landowners, and extend the comment period by at least another 45 days. Farmers and landowners should not live in fear that their land may be subject to a federal takeover,” he concluded.
Last week, Senator Hawley voted against a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission nominee who failed to oppose the use of federal eminent domain, a mandate which threatens government seizure of Missourians’ land.
Senator Hawley also sent a letter to Secretary Granholm and introduced new legislation last month to protect Missouri farmers from federal attempts to take over their land.
Read the full letter here or below.
June 12, 2024
The Honorable Jennifer Granholm
Secretary
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20585
I write to you once again with concern about the Department of Energy’s proposed National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) designation. The proposed corridor that spans my state is vague, leaving farmers and landowners in my state with unanswered questions. To allow landowners additional time to interpret the proposal, I urge you to extend the 45-day comment period that is currently expected to end on June 24, 2024.
As you know, on May 8, 2024, the Department of Energy released a list of 10 new proposed National Interest Electric Corridors, spanning more than 3,500 miles across the country. The Midwest-Plains Potential NIETC runs from Kansas to Indiana, cutting across the entirety of Missouri. Alarmingly, guidance document provided by the Department of Energy does not specify the exact area covered by the corridor. It only provides an image of the line across the state and explains that the proposed corridor is five miles wide. How are landowners expected to comment on the proposal if they don’t know if it will be on their land?
Constituents in my state have rightfully complained that the proposal lacks essential information needed to adequately provide comments on the plan. The maps provided are simply not specific enough. Landowners should be notified if the proposed route is going to touch their land. Instead, they are left to guess whether or not their land could be taken by the federal government. And they can only be sure that the corridor is on their land when it is finalized.
Further, the Midwest-Plains Potential Electric Corridor appears to span the entire path of the Grain Belt Express and Tiger Connector, a transmission line that farmers in my state have fought for years. In 2022, Missouri passed legislation requiring a proportional amount of energy be dropped in the state and that adequate compensation be granted for eminent domain. Now, a NIETC designation opens the door for the federal government to exercise federal eminent domain for new transmission lines in Missouri without consent of landowners in its path. With the stroke of the pen, your department has jeopardized all of the progress made by farmers in my state.
I have previously called on you to rescind this proposal. And that would be the right thing to do. But at the very least, to respond to serious concerns of constituents in my state, you should disclose the exact location of the proposed corridor, notify the affected landowners, and extend the comment period by at least another 45 days. Farmers and landowners should not live in fear that their land may be subject to a federal takeover. I urge you to listen to them.
Sincerely,
Josh Hawley
United States Senator