DODGE CITY, Kan. (KSNW) — The Kansas Corporation Commission has given conditional approval for transmission lines connecting wind and solar farms to the Grain Belt Express.
One proposed line would run 46 miles through parts of Ford, Meade, and Gray Counties. The other is a 16-mile line that would run through Ford County only.
The approval conditions require that Grain Belt LLC, the company behind the transmission line, conduct an analysis of the proposed Meade-Dodge City line to an alternate route called the Boyd Alternative 2.
Additional conditions to the approval include allowing Grain Belt LLC to micro-site the proposed route, which would limit modifications within 660 feet. This would mean less land taken away from landowners to build the lines and minimize environmental and engineering impacts
The study must be submitted by January 25, 2025. A second public hearing and comment period will then be scheduled to allow property owners to comment on both routes.
In addition, Grain Belt is not allowed to install transmission facilities on easement property until it has an interconnect agreement with one or more of the power generators near the transmission lines. Also, if the company does not sign an interconnect agreement within five years of obtaining easement on land through eminent domain, the land is returned to the property owner within 60 days, and the property owner will keep the original payment they received for the land.
Grain Belt must also submit detailed Kansas-specific protocols governing its relationships with affected oil and gas lease production operators for the KCC’s approval. The full order from the KCC is at the bottom of this story.
Last month, Pawnee County residents met to discuss concerns over the U.S. Department of Energy’s preliminary list of National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETCs). The Midwest-Plains corridor would run through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas, and the Grain Belt Express would be connected to the corridor.
The Kansas Farm Bureau sent KSN News the following statement today in connection to the proposed NIETC through Kansas:
Kansas Farm Bureau has been engaged on National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC) issues for nearly two years. Based on our grassroots policy, we have opposed the NIETC process, and we have opposed both of the proposed NIETC corridors in Kansas. More specifically, we oppose the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission being given backstop authority to override decisions made by our state regulators, and we oppose the use of eminent domain within these corridors. We have voiced our concerns over the 5-mile width of the proposed Midwest-Plains corridor, which overlaps the path of the already-approved Grain Belt Express transmission line, and because of feedback like ours, Invenergy has submitted a request to the Department of Energy (DOE) to reduce the width of that proposed corridor to a half-mile span. KFB is hopeful DOE considers these requests in its review and will continue to engage with all entities to either eliminate the proposed NIETC designations in Kansas or make them as narrow as possible.
The next phase of the NIETC designation process will involve DOE-led community engagement. We encourage our members, and other potentially affected landowners, to thoughtfully participate in this process and voice their concerns. When we learn more about that engagement process, we will share it.
If you would like to offer your comments to the Department of Energy for consideration, please do so at [email protected].
If you want to learn more about this and other current transmission issues, and our advocacy efforts, visit our Legal Foundation website.
President Joe Newland
Kansas Farm Bureau
To learn more about the energy corridor, click here.
