JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Public Service Commission has set a deadline for intervenors to apply in the Grain Line Express Clean Line case.
Applications to intervene and participate in this case must be filed no later than September 14, 2016. The project submitted its application to the PSC in June.
The Grain Line Express seeks a certificate of convenience and need to construct, own, operate and maintain a high voltage, direct current transmission line. That line would span from Kansas to Indiana with about 206 miles in Missouri.
The line would provide wind energy and more than 67 municipalities in Missouri will negotiate to be included on the clean line, including Centralia. That city’s board of aldermen granted permission for the city to negotiate this week.
The Clean Line will also include facilities in Buchanan, Clinton, Carroll, Chariton, Randolph, Monroe and Ralls counties. Ralls County will also include an associated converter station.
Missouri is the last of the four states where the project needs regulatory approval.
The project has previously been denied by the Public Service Commission, but this year it’s received more support from state political and business leaders. In the state, it has received endorsements from Gov. Jay Nixon and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and industry, as well as a number of Fortune 500 businesses that operate within the state. It also received the pocket approval of the state legislature when it failed to pass a bill that would have killed the project.
Both Nixon and the chamber have highlighted the project’s anticipated economic impact, which includes $500 million in investment and up to 1,500 jobs.
Ratepayers on the line are expected to save up to $10 million a year.
