DOE Withdraws $4.9B Loan Support for Grain Belt Express

The Department of Energy has canceled a conditional $4.9 billion loan guarantee for the Grain Belt Express transmission project. The decision follows a financial review by the DOE, which determined the conditions for the loan were unlikely to be met.

DOE Cancels $4.9B Loan Guarantee for Grain Belt Express Project

The Department of Energy (DOE) has canceled a conditional loan guarantee of up to $4.9 billion for phase I of the Grain Belt Express, a two-phase transmission line project designed to span Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.

The cancellation follows a review of agreements signed by the DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) during the final weeks of the Biden administration.

“After a thorough review of the project’s financials, DOE found that the conditions necessary to issue the guarantee are unlikely to be met and it is not critical for the federal government to have a role in supporting this project,” the DOE said in a statement online.

“DOE is conducting a review of every applicant and borrower - including the nearly $100 billion in closed loans and conditional commitments LPO made between Election Day 2024 to Inauguration Day 2025 - to ensure every single taxpayer dollar is being used to advance the best interest of the American people,” the DOE added.

“This ongoing review positions LPO to move forward with a lower risk tolerance in lending practices and an uncompromising focus on expanding access to affordable, reliable and secure energy for the American people.

“DOE remains focused on advancing projects that expand American energy dominance and deliver on President Trump’s commitment to lower energy prices for the American people.”

Grain Belt Express LLC, which is owned by Invenergy LLC of Chicago, Illinois, stated that the project would continue using private funding.

“America is energy dominant and an AI powerhouse, and Grain Belt Express will be America’s largest power pipeline,” Grain Belt Express said. “While we are disappointed about the LPO loan guarantee [cancellation], a privately financed Grain Belt Express transmission superhighway will advance President Trump’s agenda of American energy and technology dominance while delivering billions of dollars in energy cost savings, strengthening grid reliability and resiliency, and creating thousands of American jobs.”

On July 11, Grain Belt Express vice president Jim Shield sent a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright urging the DOE to proceed to financial close in response to opposition from Missouri Attorney-General Andrew Bailey and Senator Josh Hawley. Shield said in the letter that the conditions in the conditional commitment had been met.

“The Grain Belt Express transmission line is a critical energy security project, supported by a broad, multi-state coalition of stakeholders,” the letter, published on Grain Belt Express’ website, stated.

“It is an open-access line that will deliver all forms of American energy based on customer demand and available market power, enhancing the ability of the largest grid operators to share power, including from generators directed to operate under DOE’s 202(c) authority,” the letter added.

“This 800-mile power pipeline is capable of delivering four nuclear power plants’ worth of electricity. It is the highest capacity and second longest line in U.S. history.

“By connecting four U.S. grid regions - also a historic first - the Grain Belt Express will deliver cost savings and strengthen reliability for 29 states and DC, more than 40 percent of Americans, and 25 percent of Department of Defense installations.”

The project received “public convenience and necessity” certificates from Kansas and Missouri in 2019, Illinois in 2023, and Indiana in 2013.

The government’s online Permitting Dashboard shows the environmental review and permitting process for phase I is expected to conclude in April 2026. Being listed on the Dashboard provides transparency and efficiency benefits under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41). The project was added to the Dashboard under the Briden administration on February 20, 2024.

On May 7, 2025, Grain Belt Express announced $1.7 billion in contracts awarded to Quanta Services and Kiewit Energy Group Inc., with construction projected to begin the following year.

In reaction to the DOE’s decision, Missouri Attorney-General Bailey’s office issued a statement calling the project “a multi-billion-dollar green energy scam that threatened Missouri’s farmers, landowners, and rural communities.”

“If Invenergy still intends to force this project on unwilling landowners, we will continue to fight every step of the way,” Bailey said.

Requests for comment were emailed to Invenergy and Grain Belt Express regarding Bailey’s intent to challenge the project.

Senator Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, also declared victory, claiming to have secured a pledge from Wright to “halt” the project. Hawley further accused the project of engaging in land grabbing.

In the letter to Wright, Shield, the Grain Belt Express vice president, stated, “Senator Hawley and AG Bailey have pursued an unwarranted and unhinged crusade against the Grain Belt Express through media attacks and letters to you seeking rescission of the Grain Belt Express’ conditionally approved DOE loan guarantee, as well as AG Bailey’s own separate consumer protection investigation and request to the Missouri Public Service Commission (MPSC) to reopen its Grain Belt approval.”

“Recent false accusations from Senator Hawley and AG Bailey saying that the Grain Belt Express will cost America billions instead of saving us billions, whether mistaken or purposefully declared, are misleading at best,” Shield added.

“The questions raised by AG Bailey were all considered and decided by the MPSC through a long and rigorous regulatory process that started in August of 2022 and appealed to exhaustion in the Missouri courts reaching finality on April 28, 2025.”

Missouri Farm Bureau president Garrett Hawkins stated, “This move demonstrates a long-overdue recognition of the voices of rural communities who have consistently and clearly expressed their deep concerns about the project’s impact on their land, livelihoods, and private property rights.”

In support of the project, environmental group Sierra Club said of the DOE’s decision, “Missouri is a coal-dependent state, in the midst of a transition to cleaner sources of power. The Grain Belt transmission line would deliver 2.5 gigawatts of around-the-clock electricity - mostly from wind - to Missouri in the first phase of the project.”

“The project would provide options to Missouri towns for where they can buy power if looking for cheaper and cleaner electricity,” Sierra Club added.

Gretchen Waddell-Barwick, director of Sierra Club’s Missouri chapter, said the project “played by the rules, received multiple state approvals, and withstood legal challenges.”