Wisconsin urged to rethink major energy transmission line

A group of citizens and a state agency will request the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin rethink its decision approving the CapX2020 energy transmission project.

The PSC recently approved the controversial CapX2020 project, which will bring power lines from the Dakotas into the state. The 150 foot lines enter Wisconsin at Alma and travel south the Holmen.

Now, members of Citizens Energy Task Force and others will file a Petition for Rehearing with the PSC. Petitioners will present evidence and ask PSC commissioners to reconsider whether their decisions to approve the project were illegal, problematic, or unsupported.

Carol Overland is an attorney representing the group. She says they still have to narrow down what issues they’ll take up. But she does have concerns about the project’s estimated cost and need, “What they’re saying here is it will provide benefits, and they talk about market benefits and not the electrical type of benefits. That’s because throughout this case they never did make a case for regional reliability, electrical type issues.”

The Department of Transportation also plans to file a Petition. The DOT has to issue a permit for the CapX project, which will run along the Great River Road, a National Scenic Byway that receives federal funding. DOT General Counsel Jim Thiel says the PSC acknowledged the DOT’s aesthetic concerns about the line, but ignored them. He says he hopes the state agencies can eventually cooperate.