Letter to the Editor

Clean line not a good deal

Monday, June 15, 2015

To the Editor:

I am writing in response to the misguided people who have been expressing pro Clean Line Energy sentiments lately. Clean Line has hired new lobbyists and they are rehashing old arguments we have heard for three years. Let's review. There are still no contracts to serve one customer in Arkansas, no matter how many Clean Line "could" serve. Arkansas is already using wind energy generated in Oklahoma with no need for new transmission lines. Clean Line proposes that their federal government partner, Southwestern Power Administration, own 100% of the facilities in Arkansas, and the federal government is tax-exempt. So, no taxes will be paid to the schools, counties or any other entity. When we revealed these facts, Clean Line's story changed again. Now they are telling our schools that they will "donate" the purported "millions" to them. Of course, there is nothing in writing to that effect, just more empty rhetoric. What kind of company uses children to push their agenda, besides ISIS? When the draft EIS was published, Clean Line's claim of "5,000 jobs" was debunked. Now we hear them giving different jobs data at every meeting they attend.

We have learned that the truth is a moving target for these robber barons and they seem to continue to find gullible people who buy their myths without verifying any facts. When exposed to real data, the Clean Line myth falls apart. Arkansas does not need this monstrosity nor do we want it, as the thousands of letters of opposition to the Department of Energy demonstrate, (go to plainsandeasterneis.com). Only Clean Line's greedy investors and their lobbyists stand to benefit from this invasive project. Beware of these vultures and their ever-changing facts, lest we are left holding an empty bag after they are long gone.

Julie Morton

Van Buren