WisBusiness: ATC plans second round of meetings on new 150-mile transmission line

By Gregg Hoffmann

For WisBusiness.com

American Transmission Company (ATC) has scheduled a second round of public information meetings on the Badger Coulee Transmission Line Project, a proposed 150-mile, 345-kilivolt line from north of La Crosse to northern Dane County.

The meetings, which start June 20, already are drawing a lot of interest from groups concerned about the environmental impact, rates and other effects of the line, especially through the Kickapoo Valley area.

“In due respect to our public relations friends at ATC who suggested that there is plenty of time left to learn about the project, a growing number of individuals understand this period is crucial if there is to be meaningful and productive public participation,’ read a letter sent to WisBusiness.com from the Energy Planning & Information Committee of the Town of Stark in Vernon County.

“The next 17-21 months, before the developer’s application is submitted, is time set aside for informing the public. To insure that proposed ratepayer investment of this scale and cost is sound and far-reaching, the public discussion needs to include tough questions like energy-use planning options and specific demand and reliability issues that the Badger Coulee high capacity line would address.”

Of specific concern to environmentalists in the Kickapoo area is one of the potential corridors for the line, which would run east from Viroqua and possibly through parts of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.

Badger Coulee public meetings
All times are 1-7 p.m.

June 20 – Stoney Creek Inn, Onalaska

June 21 – Club 16, Sparta

June 22 – Cashton Community Hall, Cashton

June 23 – Wilderness Glacier Canyon Conference Center, Wisconsin Dells

June 27 – Etrick Community Center, Etrick

June 28 – Three Bears Lodge, Warrens

June 29 – Mauston Grayside Elementary School, Mauston

June 30 – Waunakee, Middle School, Waunakee.

ATC held the first round of public informational meetings several months ago and has emphasized that there is ample time for public input. The latest round of public meetings will start June 20 at the Stoney Creek Inn in Onalaska and will run at various locations through June 30. (See a list of locations, times and dates at right.)

A meeting at the Cashton Community Hall is the closest to the Kickapoo Valley area and could draw a lot of interest. That meeting will run from 1-7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22.

“We are still in the early stages of planning, and your input helps us identify areas that may offer reduced impacts on communities and the environment,” read a letter sent to 40,000 people in the possible impacted area and signed by Jon Callaway, senior local representative for the Badger Coulee project.

“Following the open houses, we will begin to evaluate preliminary routes and will host two more rounds of open houses with specific route information in spring and fall 2012.”

A formal application for construction of the line could be submitted to the Public Service Commission in 2013.

The Badger Coulee line would connect with a Minnesota line that extends to what is considered a wind energy hotbed in the Dakotas and western Minnesota. It would be part of a system to transmit electricity from that area to the more-populated areas in central and eastern Wisconsin, Chicago and perhaps beyond.

ATC is a Wisconsin-based transmission-only electric utility that owns, operates and maintains the transmission system in portions of Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois.

The company says the Badger Coulee line would “deliver Wisconsin and the Midwest region by improving electric system reliability, delivering economic benefits for Wisconsin utilities and electric consumers and expanding infrastructure to support greater use of renewable energy.”

But, “at what cost?”, ask Town of Stark officials and other skeptics and critics of the proposal. “So far, the proposal has come to the people of Wisconsin without comprehensive energy-use goals or accounting for how it would affect the state’s carbon footprint. Savings from wholesale electricity are stated only as potential and the benefit is inconsistent with the state’s experience with wholesale pricing, which started in 2005,” reads the letter from Stark officials.

Badgers Against Transmission Lines (BATL), sponsored by an organization called SOUL of the Kickapoo, has held workshops on the proposed line and on how to write and send communications that oppose it.

BATL has expressed concerns about the impact of the Badger Coulee project on the environment and on property values.

“There is never a time that high-voltage lines don’t decrease the value of property because of the view and the perceived danger of electric magnetic fields,” said Brian Jacobs, a realtor from La Farge, on the BATL web site.

“Homes located along a proposed corridor could be condemned if they are located too close to the proposed line. In addition, many people would not choose to recreate, buy property or farm in the Kickapoo Valley because of the sight and possible health risks to their families and livestock. Landowners would also see reduced land values.”

The Valley Stewardship Network, an activist organization in the area, also is urging citizens to learn more about the Badger Coulee project and raise questions.

Some opponents fear local citizens’ concerns are more likely to be ignored because of Gov. Scott Walker’s pro-business stance, and what they consider an “anti-environment” leaning of his Administration.

“Whether the CapX or ATC projects involve upgrades (replacing old towers and lines with new) or new corridors, we are talking about new 345 KV lines. Read this as 345,000 volts,” said William Katra of the Clean Energy Coalition of Western Wisconsin in a report around the time of the first public meetings on the Badger Coulee line. (Katra and CEC were the subjects of a recent GreenBiz feature at WisBusiness.com).

Katra added that poles for the new lines could run between 120 and 170 feet. He said the towers for the new lines will be an “imposing height.”

He acknowledged that the corridors for the new lines are far from being determined, but said, “At this point, we can only speculate as to where the new, imposing power line eventually will be built.

“Following established procedures, the ATC is mandated to propose two options and the PSC will choose one. This means that in two years when ATC has another series of public sessions, many new individuals will be energized to become informed, especially if they learn that one of the proposed corridors will run near or over their own land.”

Other proposed corridors for the line include a northern route along Hy. 53 in Trempealeau and Jackson counties, along the I-90 and I-94 corridors east of La Crosse and south to Madison, east from La Crosse along Highway 33 and others. You can view a map of possible routes and see other information by going to www.BadgerCoulee.com.

Wisconsin law requires location of new power lines with existing facilities and infrastructure where it is feasible. That includes existing utility corridors as primary opportunities, transportation corridors as secondary opportunities and tertiary opportunities such as recreational trails.

New corridors also can be established using section lines and/or property boundaries when feasible, but often those cost more and raise environmental issues.

The goal is to get the Badger Coulee line in service by 2018. Anticipated construction would start in 2016.