In May, the U.S. Department of Energy released a preliminary list of 10 locations across the country where federal officials say there is an urgent need to increase the regional capacity of electrical transmission lines (Getty Images).
WASHINGTON — From the beige-trimmed kitchen window of her home in Missouri’s Monroe County, Marilyn O’Bannon can look out across more than a half-mile field of crops.
But in the future, that view may include electrical transmission towers and lines, which could be along the route of a proposed massive federal power transmission corridor that would stretch nearly 800 miles across the Midwest, including through Missouri.
There is a national debate over how to address the aging electrical system, and some of this conversation is playing out in the farmland of Missouri. The federal government wants to embark on a nationwide plan to increase the reliability of electricity and reduce consumer costs.
The effort is sparking objections from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, and some Missouri landowners who say the corridor would amount to an unfair land grab.