The courtroom was more than filled to capacity with citizens interested in all aspects of the proposed transmission line.  Before ruling on any of the issues brought in the opponents' lawsuits,  Judge Howard was first asked by utility lawyers to dismiss the case.

Lawyers from the law firm of Foley and Lardner, representing Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) - the utility seeking to build the transmission line, had uncovered a technicality in the filing of the opponents' lawsuits.  The judge listened to the utility's attorneys and the attorneys for SOUL and the  Environmental Decade.

Judge Howard then decided to dismiss the lawsuits but this doesn't mean he dismissed the appeal.  On June 5th, the court will reconvene to consider a motion made by SOUL to represent more than thirty-nine individual landowners in this case.  It is expected that the case will then go forward.

Interestingly, the discussion before Judge Howard also included arguments concerning a new alternative route for the proposed transmission line and whether or not WPS will pursue the alternative with the state Public Service Commission.  The new route may be needed as the Douglas County board of supervisors has denied access to the county's land for construction of the transmission line.

The new route proposal has been provided to several newspapers in the Superior/Duluth area.  It identifies a corridor which would impact more than 100 residences and pass through the Brule State Park, headwaters to the Brule and St. Croix Rivers.   WPS and their Minnesota project partner, Minnesota Power, have indicated that they can't comment on the new route for fear of compromising their “corporate strategy”.

The March 25 hearing before Judge Howard was mostly considered a waste of time and money by those attending the hearing.  “What Wisconsin Public Service attorneys created today is an exact fit into SOUL's strategy," said SOUL President Tom Kreager.

“This project is already several years behind schedule.  Foley and Lardner added to this timeframe with a frivolous motion which will set the project, and court hearings, back several months," Kreager added.  "Possibly the utilities needed this time for strategy at the county level, as the counties along the line are, one by one, reaffirming resolutions against the line with stronger than ever wording.  We consider this a victory."

SOUL and Wisconsin's Environmental Decade will return to the courtroom several months from now with the same standing that they had when the appeals were first filed.  And their new case will include noticeably more individual landowners and interested parties as part of their lawsuits, according to Kraeger.

Judge Howard mentioned that the entire record, consisting of over 1200 testimonies against the line, more than 300 exhibits and 10,000 plus pages of transcripts, was safely under lock and key in the courthouse.

For more, contact Tom Kreager at 715-693-3143 or Linda Ceylor at 715-474-2271.