They came to Ladysmith with police but no microphones.  Expecting public anger and outrage over the unpopular Arrowhead-Weston 345,000 volt transmission line proposed across northern Wisconsin, the Public Service Commission (PSC) began its second day of public hearings without a sound system but with several private security cops on hand. 

Neighbors, unable to hear testimony in the crowded room, spoke up in protest from the audience.  Tempers flared and the hearing examiner briefly halted the hearing, promising to send staff to the local Radio Shack for a portable public address system.  Meanwhile, security approached one outspoken man who had volunteered to help read anyone's prepared testimony with his strong voice, and suggested to him that he leave the room.

When the hearing resumed, the outpouring of opposition to the transmission line mirrored the previous day's public testimony in Solon Springs.  The public's perspective was at times emotional and frequently eloquent and articulate in voicing common concerns.

Carol Suto, the town clerk for the Harmony town board in Price County and speaking on their behalf, provided some of the day's most detailed testimony, which, she said, had come from the board's own research into the matter.  She cited several internal documents and statements from utility officials involved with the transmission project.  In particular she quoted lengthy passages from testimony given to Congress by Jose Delgado, of the American Transmission Company (ATC), the utility seeking to build the line.  Delgado's quoted remarks seemed to contradict the stated need for the project - improving Wisconsin's electrical system reliability.

Suto asked that all alternatives to the project by fairly weighed by the agency's three Commissioners in the decision making process.  She also questioned the accuracy of the $2500 per acre acquisition price ATC officials expect to pay for  condemnation of private land.  And Suto requested that the PSC deny the petition from ATC to permit the stringing of a 48 strand fiber optic cable along the line's 250 mile route as part of their $400 million project.

The authenticity of the documents supporting her testimony was immediately challenged by utility lawyers.  Considerable wrangling followed, with much of it inaudible to the audience (the only microphone sat at the public testimony table).  In the end, it appeared that most of the supporting documents will be entered into the case record.

Several Rusk County Board supervisors testified against the transmission line.  The board unanimously reaffirmed its opposition to the line in January.  Price County Board supervisor Robert Rogalla noted his board's formal opposition to the line as well.  "We were the first county to draft a resolution opposing the line," he said.  Rogalla charged that the line will hurt property values, particularly for farmers and other rural residents who rely on their land's value as their version of a 401(k) retirement plan.    

As if to prove Rogalla's point, Becky Lodahl described how she has been unable to sell her home because of the hi-voltage line and the 100-120 foot towers that would pass over her family's land.  "This was to be our dream house," the young mother and rural Ladysmith resident said.  But the proposed line made the family want to move and, for two years, their home has been on the market. 

"Everyone seems to like the property until they hear about the hi-tension line," Lodahl said.  One discouraged realtor, who's letter to her she read, told Lodahl that the line has made her property "unsellable."  "I don't think it's fair that my kids should have to live under it so you can make money," she said to the cluster of utility representatives at the hearing. 

Roger Svoma, who worked for 30 years for Dairyland Power Cooperative, questioned the wisdom of placing a power source far from the area where the electricity is needed.  ATC has yet to identify the power source that it's line would use for providing electricity, but many believe it to be from Manitoba Hydro.  "You build plants close to where the load is," Svoma said.  "This line is not reliable," he added.  "It's too long and it's too big." 

And Svoma had a warning for the project's backers:  "It ain't going to be easy when they come to build this."    

"This line is not about local serving or reducing mid-day power interruptions," charged Roger Steffen, a Rusk County resident who lives near Hawkins.  Instead, Steffen claimed the line is about wheeling electricity across state lines.  "It's a line that was bathed in political appointments, cronyism, nepotism, and corruption."  Added Steffen, "we and our lands stand directly in the path of a big company and their profits." 

"I'm a pacifist," explained Steffen, "but I will stand with these people in front of the bulldozers if the time ever comes."

John Coffel, a 50 resident of Ladysmith, called the line an "abomination."  He noted with regret the impact Manitoba Hydro has had on the Cree Nation.  Their land in Manitoba was flooded by the province's power authority for hydroelectric production.  "It's ruined their hunting, their fishing, their homesteads," he said.  Indicating the project's backers, he asked:  "Is that the kind of people you want to do business with?"

Coffel mentioned his experiences as a Marine during WWII in the South Pacific.  "There's a lot of crosses out there and we need to speak up for them."  He urged the audience to resist the project, saying, "Not on my watch on they going to do it."

Eleanor Steffen (and wife of Roger) wrapped-up the afternoon's public testimony.  "This is a gross injustice," she stated, and she attacked utility expenditures designed to sway public opinion.  ATC has regularly bought ads in area papers and electronic media.  "They are using your money," Steffen said.  She also criticized thousands of dollars in political contributions coordinated by ATC's Vice-President Mark Williamson, who Steffen claimed was guilty of money laundering and who's activities are under investigation by the FBI and the DA's office in Milwaukee County.

"The people know about the corruption and that makes good citizens turn furious," she impassionately stated.  I will stand in front of the bulldozers," she concluded.

After the hearing, Eleanor Steffen described the emotional, social and financial toll fighting the transmission line has had on her family.  A phone that won't stop ringing and accompanying huge monthly bills have been part of it.  And she describes tears and the sobbing she's heard from adult men distressed by the project.

Not all opposed the transmission line at the hearing.  Two representatives from the Industrial Brotherhood of Electrical Workers appeared and offered brief support for the project, noting potential jobs for their union.

The Public Service Commission has two more scheduled public hearings on the project, one in the Wausau area on Oct. 3 and another in Ladysmith on Nov. 13.  They have extended the time for accepting written public comments to Oct. 31.  Anyone interested in contacting the PSC can send their remarks to:  Jim Lepinski, Docket Coordinator, Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, P.O. Box 7854 Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7854.   

- Will Fantle

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