PLATTEVILLE — The battle over the Cardinal-Hickory Creek power transmission line now appears to be a battle between its developers and the federal government on one side and environmental groups on the other side.
A news release from the power line’s developers announced that the federal Justice Department filed a brief with the federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on the side of the federal Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior, which approved the power line project, including its crossing of the Mississippi River.
The Court of Appeals is hearing the appeal by American Transmission Co., Dairyland Power Cooperative and ITC Midwest of the decision by U.S. District Judge William Conley March 1 banning the power line from crossing the Upper Mississippi National Fish and Wildlife Refuge.
The USDA’s Rural Utilities Service and the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved the project, as did the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and Iowa Utilities Board.
The DOJ brief argues that Conley’s ruling that the USFWS had no authority to approve the wildlife refuge crossing was incorrect. The brief also argued the groups that filed suit lacked standing to challenge the RUS’ environmental impact statement.
A news release from the developers called the DOJ brief “a vote of confidence in the lawfulness of all the federal agencies’ decisions related to the Cardinal-Hickory project and the ability of the project to be built in full compliance with federal environmental laws.”
The Driftless Area Land Conservancy, National Wildlife Refuge Association, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and Defenders of Wildlife have filed suit in federal and state courts challenging the approvals. Conley ruled in March 1 that the USFWS’ approval through the wildlife refuge was “arbitrary and capricious.”
The four groups also have filed in federal court for an order to stop work on the project outside the wildlife refuge while the lawsuits in federal and state courts proceed.
The appeals court is scheduled to hear the district court appeal in September and rule this fall. The appeals court May 6 denied a motion for a stay of Conley’s order.
The developers argued in their news release that the power line is necessary to “facilitate the region’s transition away from fossil fuels” “to support decarbonization goals.”
“Currently, 127 renewable generation projects totaling more than 19 gigawatts were dependent upon its construction — enough to power millions of homes with clean energy,” the news release said. “The critical role of this project in meeting the region’s energy needs compels the co-owners to ensure it is built for the benefit of electricity consumers by the scheduled in-service date of December 2023.”
The news release included a link to an interactive map showing renewable-energy projects in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota that it said are dependent on the power line.
The list includes five wind projects in Iowa County and three solar projects in Grant County.
The developers filed a notice with the PSC last month that the initial $492 million cost of the project would be exceeded by at least 10%, partly due to raw materials cost increases and partly due to the ongoing litigation. The notice included “uncertainty” about whether the project would be completed by its scheduled December 2023 completion.
That prompted a letter from the Citizens Utility Board, which advocates for electric and natural gas customers, to the PSC asking the PSC to order that work be stopped and reconsider its approval of the project.
“Reckless spending by powerful for-profit monopoly utilities is not in the public interest,” said the letter from CUB executive director Thomas Content and general counsel Cara Coburn Faris. “The commission has the authority, and duty, to shield customers from unreasonable CHC expenditures. … Ongoing expenditures for a project without a route, expected benefits, or a cost cap is not in the public interest.”
Construction has been continuing on the Iowa and Wisconsin sides of the 101-mile-long project despite the federal and state litigation. Neither the PSC nor the IUB has ordered work to be stopped, nor have courts in Wisconsin or Iowa.
ATC is building the eastern part of the project from the Cardinal Substation in the Town of Middleton to the future Hill Valley Substation in Montfort. ITC Midwest will build the western half of the project from the Hill Valley Substation to the Nelson Dewey Substation north of Cassville.
In Southwest Wisconsin, the project starts at the Nelson Dewey Substation on Grant County VV northwest of Cassville and goes near the U.S. 61/Wis. 81/Wis. 129 south intersection in Lancaster, heads northeast to the new substation in Montfort, then roughly follows U.S. 18 to Dodgeville and U.S. 18/151 around Mount Horeb before going northeast to the Cardinal substation.