Local residents of Northwest Wisconsin are up in arms and down in the dumps over:
Residents decry transmission line
Hearings seek input on project to bolster power supply
By THOMAS CONTENT
tcontent@journalsentinel.com
Last Updated: Oct. 1, 2003
Solon Springs - Opponents of a proposed Wausau-to-Duluth power line - some of them sobbing at times - decried the impact the 220-mile transmission line would have on the beauty and peaceful way of life in the state's North Woods.
More than 160 residents from Northwest Wisconsin came to this rural Douglas County town to speak out about the proposed power line Wednesday as the state Public Service Commission launched three days of public hearings on the $420 million project.
All but a few of the dozens who spoke opposed the plan.
The 345-kilovolt power line, proposed by Pewaukee-based American Transmission Co., has been described by some in the energy industry as the solution to the questionable reliability of Wisconsin's electricity grid after power shortages in the late 1990s.
Graphic/David Arbanas
PSC Reconsidered Tranmission Line
But it has also generated heated opposition from landowners and some elected officials in the northwestern part of the state.
"ATC will have to have a court order to come on my property," said Mary Ann Laajala, who vowed to stand in front of bulldozers to prevent construction of the power line on her 40-acre retirement property in Solon Springs, a town of 575 people located about an hour's drive southeast of Superior.
"Who is the Public Service Commission working for? I hope it's for us," Laajala said.
The latest round of hearings was ordered after the cost estimate for the project rose significantly since it was first approved two years ago.
American Transmission is proposing to build the line to help address Wisconsin's lack of high voltage lines that can bring power in from other states and relieve congestion on the only such line that links the state to Minnesota.
Transmission lines - and the need to update the state's power grid - are in the public eye after the Aug. 14 blackout that left 50 million people without power from Michigan to New York.
Opponents also said that the increased cost of the proposed power line means state energy regulators must look at alternative high-voltage transmission lines. The cost will ultimately be borne by ratepayers.
The hearings kicked off on the same day that the Wisconsin Merchants Federation, a supporter of the proposed Wausau-to-Duluth line, released poll results that showed support is gaining for the line among residents in seven counties that would host the transmission line.
The survey, conducted Sept. 19-24, found 57% in support and 35% opposed to the transmission line. The survey has a margin of error of 4 percentage points, the merchants federation said.
Peter Holtz, American Transmission's project manager for the line, said he considered the findings "significant" because they show a shift in public sentiment from a survey last year. At that time, views were split, with 47% in favor and 47% opposed.
Testifying in favor of the power line plan were representatives of the Superior-Douglas County Chamber of Commerce and several Superior leaders.
"We need to improve the infrastructure within the state of Wisconsin, especially our power grid, and to keep up with increasing demand for electricity in the state," said David Ross, Superior's mayor.
Opponents contend that American Transmission and the two utilities - Duluth-based Minnesota Power and Green Bay-based Wisconsin Public Service Corp. - that proposed the line several years ago haven't proven that the Wausau-Duluth line is a better solution to the state's electricity reliability problems than alternative lines that would not cost as much to build. American Transmission representatives say that they remain confident that the Wausau-to-Duluth line is the best solution, and that to begin planning an alternate line would push the opening of a new line back by several years. The company hopes it can have this line open by the summer of 2008.
A decision by the PSC isn't expected until early next year, said David Whitcomb, an administrative law judge who is conducting the hearings.
From the Oct. 2, 2003 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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