Here & Now

PSC to Weigh Need vs. Environmental Impact of Power Line

Frederica Freyberg:
News today out of Madison was focused on power or lack of it due to a mechanical failure at the city’s main plant. Electric transmission is also the topic of our Wisconsin look tonight. It’s a look at southwestern Wisconsin, where some residents worry about the impact of a proposed power line running from the Madison area to Dubuque, Iowa. Student journalist Will Kenneally has more.

Will Kenneally:
The land has deep meaning for residents of Wisconsin’s driftless region.

Kiley Cates:
It’s a special place.

Will Kenneally:
That’s what lead Kiley and Eric Cates to spend a sunny afternoon away from their Iowa County farm to make their voices heard in Madison.

Kiley Cates:
We have strong commitment to conservation on our farm. But also so does our town community, our farming community. We don’t want to see the towers go up.

Will Kenneally:
The Cates are part of a group of Wisconsin residents voicing their concern over a proposed high-voltage power line that would connect just west of Madison with Dubuque, Iowa. The proposal is currently before the state’s Public Service Commission, which will ultimately decide whether the Cardinal-Hickory Creek project is necessary upgrade to Wisconsin’s energy infrastructure. American Transmission Company, one of the groups applying to build the line, says the project is crucial to alleviate the strain on the region’s energy grid.

Alissa Braatz:
Transmission lines don’t start and stop at state lines. It’s much like the interstate highway system. So that’s one of the benefits that this project actually addresses, is reducing the congestion that has come about over the years with the constraints on the electric transmission system.

Will Kenneally:
Ahead of their decision, the Public Service Commission asks the public to weigh in on the need for the new line, holding hearings in Lancaster, Madison and Dodgeville.

Sherill Randall:
This is very disturbing to us and would change our quality of our life, would change the aesthetics of the land there and cause all kinds of environmental problems.

Will Kenneally:
For the Cates, this is crucial to their area.

Kiley Cates:
You know, we live in a very small township that’s right off of the river and it’s very reminiscent of maybe 40 years ago farmland, 50 years ago. We have very strict ordinances in our township to where you can build a home and just in order to keep a very specific look in our township. And having a cell tower is just not something that we can get passed in our town. So to put this in there would be hugely divisive and hard, I think, for our community.

Will Kenneally:
The proposed towers would be upwards of 175 of feet and need 75-foot clearances on both sides. ATC says the lines would mostly be built on existing rights-of-way where power lines already are located. Roughly 5% of the new lines would be placed over new ground.

Alissa Braatz:
What we strive to do is to create the least amount of impact as possible.

Will Kenneally:
For those areas where new power lines are needed, residents would have to give up part of their land.

Eric Cates:
The first alternate route went right through our farm. But not only that, it went kind of like up and over this hill and up and over that hill. So just imagining — in my mind I was imagining how the heck would they build all that? It’s crazy.

Will Kenneally:
Those opposing the project are asking ATC and the Public Service Commission to explore alternatives, such as local renewable energy production or a battery-driven storage system. ATC says local solutions would be costly. The financial burden of the interstate line would be shared across a wide region, while a battery-driven system would be supported just by Wisconsin rate payers.

Alissa Braatz:
What it didn’t accomplish is all of the other benefits that the transmission line offers, which is access to lower-cost power, reduction of congestion on the electric transmission system and improved access to renewable energy resources.

Will Kenneally:
The Public Service Commission is expected to make a decision this fall on whether the project gets the green light. Reporting from Madison, this is Will Kenneally.

Frederica Freyberg:
Regulators in Iowa and with the federal government must also sign off before the project breaks ground in 2021. If approved, it’s expected to be operational in 2023. And this week Republican legislators whose districts are in the affected corridor sent a letter to the PSC questioning the need for the project. Last month, Democratic lawmakers in the region also voiced their concern, asking for a cost benefit analysis of the expansion.