"What’s being proposed is another major tie line between Wisconsin and Minnesota," says Dave Valine, a spokesperson for Wisconsin Public Service (WPS).  WPS and Minnesota Power are seeking approval from Wisconsin and Minnesota regulators for their power line proposal.

Utility representatives argue that the new line would help ease power shortage and reliability concerns in eastern Wisconsin that surfaced during the summer of 1997 and  continue to linger.  "The line gives us more import capacity into the state," Valine told a crowd in Ladysmith at one of the 14 informational meetings sponsored by the utility in July.  "It gives us some geographic diversity."

 "WPS is selling this line as a reliability line, but the real reason they want to build this line is deregulation," says Tom Kreager, a power line opponent who lives in the Town of Mosinee.  Vast quantities of inexpensive electricity from Canada await buyers in the U.S.  Kreager calls the juice "dirt cheap" and says pending deregulation of utilities in Wisconsin would allow WPS and Minnesota Power to funnel cheap electricity through Wisconsin and into a hungry Chicago market and points further east.

"This is not about making sure the lights go on when you flip the switch," insists Kreager.  "This is strictly about money and politics."

Keith Reopelle, of Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade, acknowledges reliability concerns.  "There is that possibility," Reopelle says, "that on hot days we’re going to run short of electricity."  But he thinks state utilities should instead explore alternatives to the 345,000 volt line, such as building power plants near points of demand in eastern Wisconsin and investing in energy conservation and energy efficiency.

The high voltage transmission line proposal has gathered support from Wisconsin’s other electric utilities.  The utilities jointly formed a study committee to investigate the state’s power needs following 1997’s summer power squeeze.  The utilities ranked the Duluth to Wausau line first among six power line proposals and are urging the state’s utility regulator, the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC), to approve the project.

Reopelle says a different alternative deserves more immediate attention: "We think it is imperative that the state first fully explore energy efficiency.  It’s the cheapest option."  Reopelle cites a recent report issued by his group on energy efficiency and conservation - "Cheaper, Better, Faster" - that concludes that saving energy in homes and businesses costs about half as much as a huge new power line.

"WPS is selling this line as a reliability line, but the real reason they want to build this line is deregulation," says Tom Kreager.

The state PSC’s own studies indicate that Wisconsin could reduce energy usage by 35% over 20 years through a variety of measures, including process improvements in manufacturing, lighting efficiency measures in the commercial sector, and fuel switching for residential needs.

The state’s utilities have instead hacked away at money spent on their energy efficiency and conservation programs.  Says Reopelle:  "Public Service Commission records show that utility programs aimed at reducing household and business energy use and bills have dropped by $94 million, or 64%, in the past four years."  Most utilities have eliminated popular programs like rebates for energy efficient new appliances.  Reopelle notes that  purchases of high efficiency furnaces snared 90% of the rebate assisted market in 1993 as opposed to only 20% today.

Alternatives to the proposed power line will be part of the review process conducted by the PSC.  Jim Loock, the PSC’s chief electrical engineer, says the agency has yet to receive a formal application from WPS for the required "Certificate of Need," which starts their review process rolling.

Loock expects the filing will be made later this month or in early September.  Once that occurs, the agency will prepare and release a draft environmental impact statement within 60 days.  The public will have 45 days to comment on the draft before the final environmental impact statement is developed and public hearings commence.

WPS’s Valine hopes the PSC will approve the power line project by next spring and if so, he expects his company will need two years to build the transmission line with a goal of bringing the line into service by late in 2002.

The ultimate decision on the project rests with the three PSC Commissioners.  All three members have been appointed by Governor Thompson, who has been outspoken and vigorous in his support for additional electrical generation and transmission capabilities in Wisconsin.

Each of the PSC Commissioners have been longtime Thompson supporters and have contributed heavily to his political campaigns.  Ave Bie, who chairs the Commission, has given Thompson’s election efforts $1245 since 1991;  Commissioner John Farrow has donated $2820 since 1991 (wife Margaret has given another $1750); and the third Commissioner, Joseph Mettner, contributed $1380 to Thompson’s election coffers over the past five years.

"Public Service Commission records show that utility programs aimed at reducing household and business energy use and bills have dropped by $94 million, or 64%, in the past four years."

But on the ground, citizen opposition is brewing against big power politics.  Roger and Eleanor Steffen built a home and retired to their rural paradise near Hawkins a few years ago only to discover they sit under the path of WPS’s 345,000 volt line.  Along with Kreager and others they have formed SOUL - Save Our Unique Lands.

Roger Steffen says their organizing efforts against the power line are "gathering so much steam that we’re worried we’ve got too many people."  With a length of 250 miles, the utility project cuts across a lot of lives.  An estimated 7000 people have been contacted by WPS notifying them that their land is under consideration for one of the potential routes.

Steffen says that nearly half of the people impacted by the power line that he’s talked to aren’t even aware of the project.  SOUL has been trying to obtain plat maps from the utility to help them identify all affected landowners.  Steffen describes the effort as "like prying teeth out of them."  One woman who contacted the utility for such information, he says, was told that they we’re keeping a file on her.

Members of SOUL are in agreement that they won’t fight over whose land to shift the line onto, instead, they want to see the project rejected altogether.  They intend to have an informational booth - with a poster identifying landowners under the line -  at this week’s Rusk County Fair and will set-up a similar booth in Phillips at the fair in Price County the following week.

Steffen says the group plans to extend its organizing efforts down to the township level.  They want to locate township coordinators who know their communities to help distribute information.   He also mentions the group is developing a web site, under the name Project David (for David vs Goliath), to widely broadcast SOUL’s message.

Kreager suggests another reason why he thinks Minnesota Power and WPS want the new power line - a potential merger of the two utilities.  "For MP and WPS to be able to merge, they need a major [transmission] interconnect," he says.

Mergers and utility consolidation - under the banner of increased competition - have been rapidly increasing across the country and in Wisconsin.  Wisconsin Power & Light recently merged with two Iowa utilities, Wisconsin Electric (the state’s largest utility) was blocked in its attempt to merge with Minnesota-based Northern States Power (NSP) and is instead now merging with a natural gas company while NSP has found a willing Denver-based utility that wants to dance.

WPS’s Valine scoffs at the prospect of a merger with Minnesota Power.  "I haven’t heard anything," he says.  "You may hear before us."

But the Environmental Decade’s Reopelle says he too has heard merger rumors and notes, "I think it was true that when Alliant was formed (Wis. Power & Light’s new entity) they needed a [transmission] link between Iowa and Wisconsin."

A smaller and shorter additional leg of WPS’s power line project calls for a new 115,000 volt line from Wausau to Rhinelander.  Valine says the area suffers from power supply and reliability concerns as well.  Kreager sees this line as partially based on power needs spawned by possible construction of the controversial Crandon mine.

WPS estimates the cost of their 345,000 volt power line project at between $125-175 million.  While it is difficult to calculate the exact financial impact on customers, by way of comparison, this past July WPS requested a rate hike totaling a much smaller amount of $20.9 million from the PSC.  According to Lori Ruedinger of WPS, that request will cost the average residential customer $2.50 a month.  Ruedinger says she is "not sure how we are going to pursue rate recovery on the power line."

In spite of the influential forces pushing WPS’s power line, Reopelle doesn’t see the project as greased for approval.  "I would urge people to keep in mind that from a legal standpoint no decision has been made," he says.  He urges people concerned with the project to contact the PSC and have their names placed on their mailing list.  Even more important, he says, will be written comments on the PSC’s draft environmental impact statement and testifying at public hearings.  Adds Reopelle:  "This is not a done deal."