It’s low cost energy, stupid.

Recently, the Department of Energy announced it will participate in the development of the Plains & Eastern Clean Line Project (Clean Line), a major clean energy infrastructure project which will bring low-cost renewable power to my home state of Arkansas, Tennessee and other markets in the Mid-South and Southeast. The approximately 700-mile, high voltage direct current transmission line and associated facilities has the capacity to deliver 4,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power from the Oklahoma Panhandle region.

The all-Republican Arkansas congressional delegation has already issued a statement against the decision, citing executive overreach. Yet, in a state whose per capita GDP of $40,924 trails well below the US average of $54,307 and where access to inexpensive energy is hard to come by, I thought the case for the project deserved to be made.

For this assignment, I designed the following graphic for the Arkansas Times, the state’s go-to alternative news source.

Clean Line Energy (2)

 

.