Josh Hawley's 'huge win' already wreaks pain on voters in his home state [View all]

Source: Raw Story

September 2, 2025 7:57AM ET


It’s only been a few weeks since the Trump administration and lawmakers like Missouri Senator Josh Hawley succeeded in derailing the Grain Belt Express, a high-voltage transmission line that would have brought clean energy to much of the upper Midwest. It’s not clear whether the project will go forward, but it’s already clear that people will pay more for electricity as a result — and nowhere is that more clear than in Missouri.

The Grain Belt Express would have carried 5,000 kilowatts of wind power from Kansas across Missouri and Illinois into Indiana. The 800-mile project, slated to cost $11 billion and scheduled to begin construction next year, has drawn fire from critics, whose opposition includes its use of eminent domain to cross private property, and has been the target of Republican opponents like Hawley for well over a decade.

After years of lawsuits, regulatory review, and political battles in the Show-Me State, Invenergy, the nation’s largest privately-held clean energy supplier, received state approval from Kansas and Missouri in 2019. It began acquiring access to land as similar work proceeded elsewhere along the route. In March, Andrew Bailey, who was until recently Missouri’s attorney general, urged Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to cancel the loan. He called the Grain Belt Express a project by “far-left deep staters” dedicated to undermining farmers.

Bailey opened an investigation into the project in July, alleging that Invenergy had overstated its economic benefits, and called on the state Public Service commission to reconsider its approval. President Trump, with Hawley’s encouragement, reportedly called Energy Secretary Chris Wright and told him to cancel a $5 billion conditional loan the Department of Energy approved in November to underwrite construction. The agency did just that on July 23, a move Hawley called “a huge win” for Missouri. However, it’s likely that Missourians will suffer if the line is not built: It was predicted to save state ratepayers almost $18 billion in utility bills in the coming years.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/josh-hawleys-huge-win-will-be-a-big-loss-for-clean-energy-and-ratepayers/