JEFFERSON CITY 鈥 The U.S. Department of Energy has canceled a $4.9 billion loan for the 800-mile Grain Belt Express transmission line that developers have sought to build for over a decade.
The Department of Energy said in dated Wednesday that the conditions necessary to issue the loan guarantee were unlikely to be met and that 鈥渋t is not critical for the federal government to have a role in supporting this project.鈥
It added that the loan, issued by the Biden administration in November, was 鈥渙ne of many conditional commitments that were rushed out the door鈥 in the administration鈥檚 final days.
Martin Grego, a spokesperson for the Grain Belt, on Wednesday said that leaders were disappointed in the cancellation, but still had confidence in the project 鈥 and that private financing would be key.
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鈥淎 privately financed Grain Belt Express transmission superhighway will advance President Trump鈥檚 agenda of American energy and technology dominance,鈥 Grego said in a statement, 鈥渨hile delivering billions of dollars in energy cost savings, strengthening grid reliability and resiliency, and creating thousands of American jobs.鈥
The project has long been a target of Missouri Republicans, with U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley calling for its cancellation this year.
Attorney General Andrew Bailey has asked utility regulators at the Missouri Public Service Commission to potentially revoke the project鈥檚 approval, though regulators said earlier this month they couldn鈥檛 revoke their approval for the line.
Still, Bailey on Wednesday celebrated the decision to cancel the loan.
In a statement, he called the Grain Belt Express a 鈥渕assive green energy scam,鈥 saying it was 鈥減ropped up by the Biden Administration to benefit corporate interests at the expense of family farms.鈥
And Hawley鈥檚 office said the Missouri senator secured the loan鈥檚 cancellation.
But advocates have for years lauded the project as a key vehicle to bring cheap wind energy from the Plains to areas of high electricity demand, farther east.
The Sierra Club鈥檚 Missouri chapter said Wednesday the Grain Belt Express would bolster grid reliability and resilience, creating construction jobs and lowering electricity costs for small towns.
Electric transmission has been touted in recent years as a front for sorely needed investment and expansion. The ability to get electricity from one point to another affects energy prices, reliability and greenhouse gas emissions.
Significant transmission bottlenecks have persisted in the United States for years.
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a lot of clean energy that we鈥檙e not taking advantage of in this country because we don鈥檛 have a way to deliver it to customers,鈥 James Owen, the executive director of Renew Missouri, a group that advocates for increased adoption of renewable power in the state, said in December.
The Grain Belt Express would stretch from wind-rich parts of western Kansas across Missouri and Illinois before reaching its eastern terminus in Indiana.
Although the Grain Belt faced years of hurdles and delays, it has secured approval in all four states it would traverse.
And Invenergy, the transmission line鈥檚 Chicago-based developer, already has deals with municipal utilities seeking cheaper power through the project, guaranteed by contracts.
But Republicans in Missouri have long been critical of the project, raising eminent domain concerns.
Bailey in March wrote to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, asking for an investigation into the $4.9 billion loan.
Bailey previously said the project is tied to nearly 50 eminent domain lawsuits against landowners along its route in Missouri.
鈥淲e鈥檝e won a battle in the war for Missouri landowners,鈥 he said in a statement Wednesday.
Hawley, meanwhile, had sent two letters to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright this year calling for the loan to be terminated.
鈥淵our department should be taking every possible action to stop this loan 鈥 not only to save taxpayer鈥檚 money, but also to save generational land from being ripped away from families and hard-working farmers and ranchers in Missouri,鈥 Hawley said in a June 25 letter. 鈥淣ow is the time to act.鈥
Gretchen Waddell-Barwick, director of the Sierra Club鈥檚 Missouri chapter, in a statement called it 鈥渟adly predictable that Senator Hawley doesn鈥檛 care that this project played by the rules, received multiple state approvals, and withstood legal challenges.鈥
Post-Dispatch photographers capture tens of thousands of images every year. See some of their best work that was either taken in June 2025 in this video. Edited by Jenna Jones.
