Missouri clock: landowner open houses already happened. They are talking construction in 2027. Write Liberty and the PSC
Land Before LinesLand Before Lines.OZARKS · MISSOURI · OKLAHOMA

Missouri · Liberty / Empire

Ninety miles is not a tune-up.

Empire District Electric, doing business as Liberty, describes a multi-year job across its Missouri service area. About 90 miles of new 345-kV line. About 79 miles of 161-kV rebuild or conversion. They say a lot of the new line will use the old 161-kV corridor from the Monett area toward Branson. Then the system still has to run west to the Oklahoma line and meet AEP.

What they say it is

A reliability upgrade

SPP directed a regional 345-kV path after winter-storm stress. Liberty’s public page puts the bigger build at about 316 miles from southern Kansas through northeast Oklahoma into southwest Missouri and the Ozarks.

What locals have been told

$500 million to $600 million class

Local reporting on landowner open houses described a half-billion-dollar project with more than one proposed route still in play while they collect comments.

What that means on dirt

Using the old corridor is not a free pass

“Follow the existing line” can still mean taller structures, wider clearing, new access, and new legal paper. An old easement is not automatically a 345-kV easement.

How to work this in Missouri without wasting the trip.

  1. Open Liberty’s current project page. Save the map packet they are showing landowners. Date the screenshot.
  2. Ask in writing which stretches sit inside an existing easement and which need new rights.
  3. Mark occupied homes, barns, poultry houses, airstrips, cemeteries, parks, and stream crossings on that map. One photo per site.
  4. File at the Missouri Public Service Commission only after you confirm the live case number. A comment to the company is not automatically a legal filing.
  5. Bring people from the next county. A line from Branson country to the state line is a regional object. Treat it that way.
Liberty already listed an open house for 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026 at the Lampo Center, 500 E. Spring St., Neosho. If that date has passed when you read this, ask for the next one and get the comment window in writing.

Open the letter Liberty’s page