HR0371 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0371 LRB099 11928 GRL 34164 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC, plans on constructing the Grain Belt Express Line, a 750-mile overhead transmission line that would carry electricity produced by Kansas wind farms across portions of Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois; and

WHEREAS, The central Illinois portion of the transmission line would span the entire width of the State, including Macoupin, Montgomery and Christian Counties in the 95th Legislative District; and

WHEREAS, The majority of the energy transported along the transmission line will benefit consumers on the East Coast and will not be used by rate payers in Illinois; and

WHEREAS, The transmission line will likely have a detrimental impact on landowners in these areas, as the transmission towers will decrease the value of their land and will make it more difficult for them to farm their property; and

WHEREAS, Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC has, in the past, submitted to the United States Department of Energy an application for "Federal Siting Authority", which would grant the company the powers of eminent domain; and

WHEREAS, The powers of eminent domain would allow a private company to seize land from private landowners that refuse to grant easements to their property that would allow construction of the transmission line; and

WHEREAS, Anything that encroaches upon the property rights of individual land owners in Illinois needs to be carefully considered before being enacted; and

WHEREAS, On April 10, 2015, Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC submitted an application to the Illinois Commerce Commission for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Illinois Commerce Commission to carefully consider the application submitted by Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC for its Grain Belt Express Line, and to grant the application only if the company identifies clear and substantial benefits to the State of Illinois that definitively outweigh any deprivation of property rights or land value of the citizens of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be delivered to the Illinois Commerce Commission.