DOE cancels $4.9 bil conditional financing commitment for Grain Belt Express line

The US Department of Energy has canceled a conditional funding commitment for a multistate Midwestern transmission line following efforts by high-ranking Missouri Republicans to halt the project.

The DOE said July 23 that its Loan Programs Office had terminated a conditional loan guarantee of up to $4.9 billion for construction of independent developer Invenergy's Grain Belt Express project. The LPO on Nov. 25, 2024, announced the conditional commitment for the project's first phase, which would run over 500 miles from western Kansas to northeast Missouri.

The second phase would continue from Missouri through Illinois to the state border with Indiana. The overall Grain Belt Express project is planned at about 780 miles, and would connect the Southwest Power Pool, Midcontinent ISO and PJM Interconnection LLC grids, as well as the grid operated by Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. in Missouri, Iowa and Oklahoma.

In the announcement terminating the funding deal, the DOE said Grain Belt Express did not represent a good financial deal for taxpayers.

"After a thorough review of the project's financials, DOE found that the conditions necessary to issue the guarantee are unlikely to be met and it is not critical for the federal government to have a role in supporting this project," the agency said.

Invenergy did not immediately respond to a request for comment July 23 about the future of the project, which has received permits from both Missouri and Kansas. The developer had previously said it expected to begin construction of the first phase in 2026.

Mixed messages

At a July 23 hearing on electricity demand and grid reliability before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Angus King, Independent-Maine, lamented the irony of witnesses and lawmakers speaking of the critical need for transmission enhancements while the DOE canceled the loan guarantee for Grain Belt Express. King said the federal backing was not a grant to be covered by taxpayers, but a loan guarantee for the planned investment.

The cancellation of the Grain Belt Express loan guarantee comes as President Donald Trump works to roll back spending commitments that the preceding Biden administration made for numerous clean energy projects.

In May the DOE said it would ask almost 200 recipients of past financial awards worth over $15 billion to provide additional information about their projects due to concerns that the Biden administration had rushed to approve wasteful spending before leaving office.

In its July 23 emailed statement, the DOE said the LPO made $85 billion in closed loans and conditional commitments between the Nov. 5, 2024, elections and Jan. 20, 2025, the day Donald Trump took office.

The DOE said it was reviewing "every applicant and borrower ... to ensure every single taxpayer dollar is being used to advance the best interest of the American people."

Republican opposition

The Grain Belt Express project was first proposed in 2009 and has faced various obstacles, including objections by landowners, court-ordered reversals of state regulatory approvals and ownership changes.

In early July, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued a civil investigative demand against the project for alleged fraud and misrepresentation and asked the Missouri Public Service Commission to reevaluate and potentially revoke the project's permit. Bailey separately asked the DOE to rescind its conditional loan guarantee.

US Senator Josh Hawley, Republican-Missouri, on July 10 said he had received a commitment from DOE Secretary Chris Wright to stop Grain Belt Express, calling the project "an elitist land grab harming Missouri farmers and ranchers."

In a July 11 letter to Wright, Jim Shield, vice president of Invenergy subsidiary Grain Belt Express, said the Missouri leaders' actions were "egregious politically motivated lawfare." Shield said the transmission line "will deliver cost savings and strengthen reliability for 29 states and DC, more than 40% of Americans, and 25% of Department of Defense installations."