Letter from Grain Belt Express to U.S. Energy Secretary Wright

Today, this letter was sent from Grain Belt Express to U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright:

The Honorable Chris Wright

U.S. Department of Energy

1000 Independence Ave., S.W.

Washington D.C., 20585

July 11, 2025

Dear Secretary Wright,

President Trump’s infrastructure agenda and your leadership are making America energy dominant, secure, and prosperous. Unfortunately, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey are declaring open season on America’s ability to build needed energy infrastructure. We ask you to put this unfounded noise aside and affirm a commitment to the Grain Belt Express to reach closing, following the fulfillment of conditions negotiated in our Conditional Commitment.

The Grain Belt Express transmission line is a critical energy security project, supported by a broad, multi-state coalition of stakeholders. It will strengthen grid reliability and resilience while saving U.S. consumers billions of dollars. It is an open-access line that will deliver all forms of American energy based on customer demand and available market power, enhancing the ability of the largest grid operators to share power, including from generators directed to operate under DOE’s 202(c) authority.

This 800-mile power pipeline is capable of delivering four nuclear power plants’ worth of electricity. It is the highest capacity and second longest line in U.S. history. By connecting four U.S. grid regions—also a historic first—the Grain Belt Express will deliver cost savings and strengthen reliability for 29 states and D.C., more than 40% of Americans, and 25% of Department of Defense installations.

Unfortunately, the Grain Belt Express has been the target of egregious politically motivated lawfare. Senator Hawley and AG Bailey have pursued an unwarranted and unhinged crusade against the Grain Belt Express through media attacks and letters to you seeking rescission of the Grain Belt Express’ conditionally approved DOE loan guarantee, as well as AG Bailey’s own separate consumer protection investigation and request to the Missouri Public Service Commission (MPSC) to reopen its Grain Belt approval. Recent false accusations from Senator Hawley and AG Bailey saying that the Grain Belt Express will cost America billions instead of saving us billions, whether mistaken or purposefully declared, are misleading at best.

The questions raised by AG Bailey were all considered and decided by the MPSC through a long and rigorous regulatory process that started in August of 2022 and appealed to exhaustion in the Missouri courts reaching finality on April 28, 2025. The State of Missouri was represented throughout these proceedings, yet AG Bailey never intervened or otherwise contested the proceeding. Missouri law and constitutional due process protect the Grain Belt Express’ property interest in its permit granted by the MPSC. No amount of political posturing and unrelenting attacks can change that fact.

This procedural abuse is a waste of public resources and is harmful to Missourians and all Americans, both of whom will directly benefit from the project. For the Trump administration, however, this attack is even more harmful, because it puts reliability, resiliency, and affordability of all types of energy at risk. As America is facing extreme energy demand growth, these anti-growth politics of infrastructure opposition cannot be acquiesced to. And, in light of the need to keep critical energy facilities online using Presidential emergency authority, this line is even more important now than it was when it was started.

These attacks threaten to deny not only Missourians, but millions of Americans of the energy cost savings, reliability, and economic benefits the Grain Belt Express will deliver, including:

• In Missouri, Grain Belt has signed agreements tied to contractually guaranteed energy cost savings for municipal utilities serving 39 communities.

• Major U.S. construction contractors are counting on $1.7 billion in awards the Grain Belt Express recently announced, touted by the White House as a win for America.

• Across Kansas and Missouri, the Grain Belt Express has executed over 1,500 voluntary agreements with landowners and has contractually-obligated payments to landowners and county governments due at construction.

• In Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the Grain Belt Express supply agreement anchors a recently completed factory expansion supporting 27 additional permanent jobs to produce conductor cables manufactured with U.S. steel and aluminum.

• In Alabama and South Carolina, American workers will manufacture insulators and transmission assemblies.

American strength and security is tied to winning global races in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced manufacturing, while ensuring affordable, reliable power for communities. Winning these races, meeting surging electricity demand, and securing grid reliability requires building new, immediate, large-scale physical infrastructure.

Building energy infrastructure to meet America’s goals is getting harder and harder. The Grain Belt Express is a test of America’s will to build.

Sincerely,

Jim Shield

Vice President

Grain Belt Express LLC