JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has called on the Biden administration to halt its $4.9 billion loan to the Grain Belt Express, a massive transmission line project that Bailey asserts will unlawfully seize land from Missouri property owners.
The attorney general is currently engaged in litigation to protect local farmers and ranchers from the project’s encroachment on their property rights.
"I will not allow the languishing Biden-Harris Administration to shortcut the legal process and force Missouri farmers to give up their land," Bailey said in a statement. "No one knows better how to use Missouri land than Missouri farmers, ranchers, and property owners. My office will continue to fight for personal property rights at every turn."
The Grain Belt Express, designed to transport renewable energy across multiple states, requires extensive land use in northern Missouri.
Bailey contends in his letter the project relies on the misuse of eminent domain to secure land from unwilling property owners.
He has also criticized the Department of Energy (DOE) for moving forward with a loan guarantee before finalizing an environmental impact statement (EIS), a critical step in assessing the project’s effects on the region and gathering public input.
In a letter addressed to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Bailey voiced strong opposition to the DOE’s actions.
"This announcement comes even though DOE’s Loan Programs Office has not yet proposed—let alone finalized—an environmental impact statement that would provide Missourians the opportunity to comment on this project and its impact on their lives," Bailey wrote in the letter.
Bailey further criticized the Grain Belt Express as a "speculative business venture designed to benefit investors and out-of-state interests rather than Missourians."
He noted the project’s potential to cause "irreparable harm" to Missouri’s legacy farmers and ranchers, who have long been integral to the state’s economy through agriculture and livestock production.
The letter also highlighted frustrations with the DOE’s public engagement process.
According to Bailey, attendees at an early 2023 scoping meeting were assured they could provide input once the draft environmental impact statement was released.
However, as of mid-2024, no draft EIS has been published, the letter states.
"After nearly two years of radio silence," Bailey wrote, "suddenly the Biden administration…appears to be shortcutting the vital public engagement process by shoveling out this massive amount of taxpayer-supported financing for a select group of investors."
Bailey demanded in the letter immediate action from the DOE to reverse its loan decision, publish the draft EIS, and schedule in-person meetings to allow Missouri residents to voice their concerns. "Anything less is unacceptable," he concluded.
This is not the first time Bailey has taken legal action against the Grain Belt Express.
His office previously intervened in a lawsuit in Monroe County, to defend local governments that opposed the project’s plans to string transmission lines across county roads. That litigation remains ongoing.
The Grain Belt Express has drawn sharp criticism from Missouri property owners and local governments, who argue that the project prioritizes corporate and out-of-state interests over their rights and livelihoods.