Hawley Wins Cancelation of Grain Belt Express

 
In the last week, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley announced that the Trump administration has committed to canceling a conditional loan guarantee for the Grain Belt Express transmission line. The loan guarantee, which was issued by the Biden administration in November 2024, would have provided up to $4.9 billion in federal funding for the project.
The Grain Belt Express is an $11 billion project designed to transport electricity generated by wind farms in Kansas across four states (Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana) to more densely populated regions in Indiana and Illinois. The developer, Invenergy, has stated that it would be the largest privately funded transmission line in the United States.
Hawley has been a vocal opponent of the project, arguing that it does not benefit Missouri residents and that farmers are upset about the use of eminent domain to acquire land for the project. He has also criticized the project as a "boondoggle" and an "elitist land grab".
Following Hawley's announcement, the Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed that it has terminated the conditional loan guarantee for the Grain Belt Express Phase 1 project. The DOE stated that a review of the project's financials found that the conditions necessary to issue the guarantee were unlikely to be met, and that the federal government didn't need to have a role in supporting the project.
Invenergy has called Hawley's actions "bizarre" and argued that the project has broad bipartisan support. They also state that the project will provide billions of dollars in energy cost savings, create thousands of jobs, and strengthen grid reliability. Despite the DOE's decision to terminate the loan guarantee, the Grain Belt Express has received approvals from regulators in all four states it is set to cross. The project is still expected to move forward, with construction on Phase 1 anticipated to begin in 2026.
The cancelation of the federal loan guarantee comes after Senator Hawley secured a pledge from Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright to halt the project. Senator Hawley sent a letter to the DOE in March urging the department to cancel the loan, as well as a follow-up letter in June.