Local News

The company building a high-voltage power line in northern Wisconsin will have to negotiate with some local governments to complete the project, the head of the Public Service Commission says.

Some portions of the power line from Duluth-Minn., to Wausau will cross public land, said Burneatta Bridge, chairwoman of the Wisconsin PSC.

Although utilities have the right to condemn private land along the route of the power line, they do not have authority to condemn public land, she said, which means American Transmission Co. will have to reach agreements with some local governments along the route.

The power line is controversial, Bridge said, but it is needed for the state’s electrical reliability. She said she came to that decision after weighing all of the testimony in the case.

“I read every word of the Arrowhead-Weston case. It took months,” she said.

The PSC, which has three commissioners, is an independent agency that regulates utilities. Bridge was in Eau Claire Tuesday to discuss energy issues and a new energy planning assessment the PSC is about to release.

The assessment will help guide the state’s energy use for the next seven years.

“Last year in the spring the governor asked us to look at the future and forecast where we will be in seven years,” Bridge said.

The PSC used to make a 20-year plan, but that time frame was too long and couldn’t anticipate changes in energy technology and markets, she said.

Bridge said she is reviewing a draft of the energy assessment. Public meetings will be held around the state after it is released, she said.

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