Public hearings before the state Public Service Commission (PSC) on the proposed 345,000 volt electric transmission line across northern Wisconsin have ended.  The controversial proposal would stretch 250 miles across Wisconsin (ending outside of Wausau) and is the largest voltage powerline allowed under state law. 

The Arrowhead-Westin Transmission Project - as it’s called in utility speak - has encountered intense resistance from landowners, state energy activists and affected Indian tribes while garnering the support of utilities, big business and key public officials (like Governor McCallum). 

About 10,000 pages of testimony were entered into the formal hearing transcript during the legal tussle over the line.  Supporters and opponents of the project expect the three PSC Commissioners to reach a decision on the construction permit by late August or early September.

Steve Hiniker, the executive director for the Citizens’ Utility Board (CUB), doubts the line is needed.  And he says the project’s chief utility sponsor, Green Bay-based Wisconsin Public Service, did a poor job of proving their case.  “They thought all they had to do was show-up and they would get their approval,” Hiniker says.  “Unfortunately,” he adds, “they may be right.”

Hiniker credits the utility with doing a good job of whipping up their supporters.  He also notes the existing climate of fear surrounding a potential energy shortage as another factor working in the utility’s favor. 

When plans for the 345,000 volt line were first developed several years ago, the state was living under the shadow of electrical blackouts.  Hot, humid weather torched Wisconsin during the summer of 1997 while the state’s electric generating capacity was hobbled by prolonged repairs afflicting the aging nuke plants on Lake Michigan’s shoreline. 

Ilinois’ own headaches with their offline nuclear powerplants sucked additional electricity from the badgerland, worsening Wisconsin’s electrical reliability and sparking sporadic brownouts across the eastern side of the state. 

A nervous Governor Thompson and utility officials persuaded the state legislature to respond.  They passed a package of energy policy proposals aimed at shoring up electrical supplies in eastern Wisconsin and the state’s transmission infrastructure. 

A flurry of new powerplant proposals were generated with several receiving a construction thumbs up from the PSC.  Over 10,000 megawatts of new electrical power has been proposed, notes Hiniker.  An amount, he says, “more than doubling the exiting energy [supply] in eastern Wisconsin.” 

Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) remains unfazed by the surge in new electrical capacity, and continues to insist they need their $175 million transmission project  to serve their customers.  “This is the best possible solution,” says company spokesman Todd Steffen.  “We still need a method to transfer power to where it’s needed.” 

“We’ve moved beyond 1997,” says Linda Ceylor.  Ceylor is a dairy farmer from the Rusk County community of Catawba and part of SOUL (Save Our Unique Lands).  Like many of SOUL’s members, her land sits under a corridor proposed for the 345,000 volt line. 

Ceylor says that WPS’ original proposal assumed no new power plants would be built.  Mentioning the string of 90 degree days that hit the state in June and July, she asks:  “Where’s the warning for blackouts?”  The lack of warnings, Ceylor answers, is a clue.  “Maybe the problem got solved.” 

“We’ve been holding up, but just getting by on those hot days,” responds Steffen.  “We’ve reached electrical peaks every year for the past five years.” 

Ceylor thinks WPS has a more compelling reason for their powerline proposal.  “They are looking at the bulk transfer of electricity,” she says.  “It’s not a secret.” 

Ceylor argues that the utility hopes to sell the juice to Chicago and other power hungry portions of the U.S.  A line the size of WPS’ proposal can transmit about 2000 megawatts of power, or the equivalent of 4 conventional coal plants. 

But the power doesn’t appear out of thin air, it has to come from somewhere and at the end of the extension cord live the Pimicikamak Cree of northern Manitoba.  Vast areas of Cree Indian land have been submerged for hydro power development along the Nelson River system.  Manitoba’s provincial utility has been eagerly seeking buyers for the surplus hydro electricity. 

The Cree’s traditional lands are mostly flat, forested expanses.  Lacking natural dikes and geologic barriers, the dams built on the Nelson River have flooded inordinately huge tracts of the wooded back country.  Disruptions caused by water fluctuations make it difficult for Cree trappers and fishers to feed their families. 

“Our traditional navigation, fishing, and hunting grounds are being destroyed,” was the message Ernest Monias, a member of the Pimicikamak Cree, brought to Wisconsin last year. 

Monias’ home town of Cross Lake (about 6000 people) has an unemployment rate near 95 percent and one of the highest suicide rates of any Indian community in Canada. 

Trying to halt the bleeding, the Pimicikamak Cree entered the PSC hearings hoping to block construction of the transmission line and halt further sales of Manitoba’s hydro electricity. 

Regardless of the power source, WPS and other state utilities have asserted that  an additional line is needed across northwestern Wisconsin as a system back-up for the lone 345,000 volt line running into Eau Claire.  “We really have an overburdened transmission from the west,” explains Steffen. 

“Expert transmission engineers can demonstrate that these needs can be met without building a 345kV line,” Hiniker says.  One alternative he suggests is upgrading existing lines along existing powerline right-of-ways to meet transmission system concerns. 

Ceylor, who attended all of the technical hearings before the PSC, concurs.  “It’s not so much a lack of energy, but the energy not flowing properly,” she says. 

Following the conclusion of the PSC’s hearings (most of which were not attended by a PSC Commissioner), SOUL sought to put a public face on their intense opposition.  On June 7, they brought a couple of buses and a hundred people to Madison for the weekly open meeting of the three Commissioners. 

SOUL presented the Commissioners with more than 1000 signed documents from landowners potentially impacted by the line that said they would not grant a construction easement.  In addition to the land owned by many private parties, the PSC’s Environmental Impact Statement indicates that the 250 mile route would cross 53 rivers, wetlands, and hiking trails between Duluth and its Wausau endpoint. 

Despite their efforts and the winning case she believes they presented, Ceylor doesn’t sound optimistic.  “There’s an awful lot of learning to do here,” she says, noting the low hearing attendance by the Commissioners and the 10,000 page transcript.  “We’ve got a hell of a case.  It’s too bad that it goes in front of the three Commissioners.” 

Hiniker’s more blunt.  “I think that this Commission,” he says, “will approve the Arrowhead-Westin line and we will go directly to court.”  He cites a missing engineering plan, unexpected powerplant construction, and the failure to adequately explore energy conservation and alternative energy sources as grounds for contesting the decision. 

Convinced that these issues will tie the project up in court, Hiniker offers his own energy forecast:  “I wouldn’t look for any juice to be flowing over a line between Duluth and Weston anytime in the next decade.”