Missouri AG wants DOGE to investigation federal loans to Grain Belt Express

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has sent a letter to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk, calling for an immediate investigation into the nearly $5 billion in federal loan guarantee to be awarded to the Grain Belt Express (GBE) project.

The Grain Belt Express project proposes constructing transmission lines across Missouri and Illinois farmland to transport wind-generated energy from Kansas to other states. The project has has been controversial among Missouri and Illinois farmers and landowners whose properties face confiscation through the unjust use of eminent domain.

Local counties where Grain Belt’s proposed route would run include Monroe and Ralls in Missouri and Pike and Scott in Illinois.

Bailey describes the loan as a “scheme” and “as “one of the most egregious abuses of taxpayer dollars in recent memory.”

“In the waning, chaotic days of the Biden Administration — when the former president’s mental decline had grown to such a severe state that we now know he was not actually running his own White House and often signed documents without even knowing what they contained — left-wing bureaucrats seized the opportunity to advance their radical ‘green agenda,’” Bailey said. “In the shadows of this confusion, far-left deep staters advanced a $4.9 billion green energy federal loan guarantee boondoggle to bankroll the Grain Belt Express (GBE), one of the most egregious abuses of taxpayer dollars in recent memory.”

Bailey, a Republican, said the project is less about renewable energy and “more about lining the pockets of wealthy investors.”

Former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, was a primary paid lobbyist for GBE.

“This so-called renewable energy project is nothing more than a government-sponsored land grab disguised as environmentalism,” Bailey said. “Missouri farmers — the backbone of our state and nation — now face the prospect of watching their lands carved apart, all to satisfy the greed of private investors.”

The letter highlights that the GBE project has initiated nearly 40 eminent domain proceedings against Missouri landowners. Bailey said it strips citizens of their property rights to benefit out-of-state corporations.

“We will not stand by while Missouri families are steamrolled by out-of-state interests and unelected bureaucrats pushing a radical green agenda,” Bailey said. “I urge DOGE to immediately investigate and cancel federal funding for the nearly $5 billion in waste from the GBE, putting an end to this shameful legacy of the Biden Administration—a legacy defined by incompetence, corruption, and blatant disregard for American property rights. Missouri farmers, taxpayers, and the American people deserve better.”

A full copy of the letter can be viewed here.