Official Release of the Pawnee County Attorney’s Office
LARNED, Kan. (Aug. 21, 2024) — Wednesday morning, Larned Mayor Will Nusser, Pawnee County Commissioner Bob Rein and Pawnee County Attorney Douglas McNett met via tele-video conference with members of the Leadership Team of the Grid Deployment Office of the Federal Department of Energy (DOE). Key DOE participants in the meeting were Dylan Reed, Senior Advisor of External Affairs, and Jeffrey Dennis, Deputy Director of Transmission. The meeting lasted approximately 30 minutes.
Important takeaways from conversation are as follows:
- The Proposed Midwest-Plains NIETC (i.e., energy corridor) is just one of ten proposed NIETCs across the nation.
- Prior to opening the next official public comment period, the Department of Energy intends to reduce the number of proposed NIETCs based on where the greatest needs are and where said projects would have the greatest impact on the underlying goal of improving electricity transmission capacity constraints and congestion. 1
- In addition to reducing the overall number of projects, the scope of the remaining
proposals may also be narrowed. 2 - DOE did not coordinate with Invenergy, the developer of the Grain Belt Express
Transmission line, when it created the Proposed Midwest-Plains NIETC (i.e., energy
corridor). - The availability of Federal financial resources for transmission project developers is not
contingent on an inclusion of Federal eminent domain authority or Federal override
authority of State and Local permitting decisions but may require Congressional action to
clarify this distinction. - The Grid Deployment Team does not anticipate the next Open Public Comment Period
occurring prior to November of 2024.
In our discussion, we asked that in its decision-making process as to whether to include the proposed Midwest-Plains NIETC in the final list of NIETC projects moving forward that the DOE consider the historic importance of the generational farms, the families that reside on the land, and the negative impact said designation would have on land values and future development. Additionally, we emphatically expressed the proposed Federal Rule’s inclusion of Federal eminent domain authority and Federal overriding of State and Local permitting decisions are simply unacceptable.
We want to thank everyone that attended the recent townhall meetings in Pawnee and Barton Counties to express their concerns to the representatives from Senator Marshall, Senator Moran and Representative Mann’s office. It is going to take the coordinated efforts of communities throughout the Midwest to impact this Federal proposal. When making future decision regarding your property, it is important those decisions are based on verifiable information and not based on speculation. We will make all efforts to share new information with the public as it becomes available.
Pawnee County, in conjunction with Barton County, intends to coordinate efforts with the Kansas Natural Resource Coalition (KNRC) to oppose the proposed Midwest-Plains NIETC. The KNRC is currently assisting several Counties in Central Kansas in opposing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent efforts to secure water from junior water right holders near the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.
Douglas W. McNett
Pawnee County Attorney
Pawnee County Courthouse
715 Broadway
Larned KS 67550
¹DOE defines “transmission capacity constraints” as limits on the amount of electricity that can flow across a transmission line, including limits that reduce reliability, the ability to transfer electricity between regions, and the ability to deliver lower-cost electricity where it is needed. “Transmission congestion” refers to the economic impacts on consumers that result from physical limits on the amount of electricity that can safely and reliably flow across a transmission line.
²By “narrow geographic area,” DOE means a geographic area that is narrow enough for DOE to identify key stakeholders and to meaningfully evaluate the potential impacts of NIETC designation on environmental, cultural, and Tribal resources within the geographic area. DOE intends for these geographic areas to be of sufficient size to allow for market participants, transmission planning entities, state and local authorities, Tribal entities, and potentially the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to determine the appropriate facilities to address the transmission capacity constraints or congestion within the geographic area.
DOE will not determine a route for a particular transmission project; rather the land area will be big enough that one or more transmission projects could proceed entirely within the geographic boundaries of the NIETC.
