MADISON — Developers of the proposed Cardinal-Hickory Creek power transmission line say they are continuing with project work despite two recent court defeats.
A joint statement Jan. 18 from American Transmission Co., ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative said the decision by U.S. District Judge William Conley Jan. 14 “has no immediate impact on the co-owners’ ability to continue construction activities” based on the terms of the preliminary injunction order Conley issued Nov. 1.
Conley’s Nov. 1 decision banned work in more than 100 federally protected wetlands, including the crossing at the Mississippi River within the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.
Monday was the deadline for both sides in the federal case to submit proposals for a final order and language of that order based on Conley’s Jan. 14 decision, with a final decision to be announced sometime afterward.
“The utilities are committed to completing this project, which will reduce energy costs, improve electric grid reliability, relieve congestion on the transmission system, support decarbonization goals and help support the interconnection of renewable generation in the Upper Midwest,” the statement said.
Conley Jan. 14 ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service’s review of the power line’s crossing the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge was inadequate.
Conley called the USFWS’ decision to grant the project right of way through the refuge “arbitrary and capricious” and ruled that the power line is not compatible with the mission of the wildlife refuge.
The federal lawsuit was filed last February by Driftless Area Land Conservancy, the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Refuge Association. The lawsuit contends that the project would harm the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, over which the power lines would cross, in addition to Southwest Wisconsin’s Driftless Area.
“The federal court’s opinion makes clear that the huge transmission line is not compatible with the purpose and statutory protections for the Upper Mississippi River National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, which is the gem of the Refuge System in the Midwest,” said Howard Learner, attorney for the environmental groups. “Running a huge high-voltage transmission line with 20-story-high towers through the National Wildlife Refuge is illegal and is contrary to common sense and sound policy.”
The developers issued a statement after Conley’s Nov. 1 decision that it only applies to a 15.56-acre area along the 87-mile Wisconsin segment. “The co-owners had voluntarily agreed to avoid construction in these wetlands until Nov. 29 as a showing of good faith and cooperation to the Court and other parties,” the statement said. “The utilities can continue project construction in Wisconsin in areas not affected by the preliminary injunction.”
In the state courts, the state Supreme Court ruled Nov. 8 against a request by the power line’s developers to overturn a lower court ruling that said that opponents could get an injunction stopping work if they could secure $32 million in bonding, the estimated cost to developers of stopping the project.
Conley’s Nov. 1 decision came one day after the power line’s developers announced they had started work on the Wisconsin portions of the project, seven months after work started on the Iowa end of the project.
Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost ruled Oct. 18 that opponents seeking the injunction to stop the project would be entitled to have the injunction granted if they could post $32 million in two bonds — an amount equivalent to what stopping the project would cost the developers.
Other lawsuits against the project include a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate the Public Service Commission’s unanimous approval of the project two years ago over an accusation of a conflict of interest with then-PSC commissioner Michael Huebsch, who engaged in encrypted communications with employees of one of the developers.
“It’s time for ATC and the other transmission companies to pause, step back and consider better alternatives, which are supported by people in the Southwest Wisconsin Driftless Area,” said Learner “ATC and ITC should stop wasting ratepayers’ money and causing unnecessary environmental destruction for a massive transmission line that must be fundamentally reconsidered in light of the Federal District Court’s Opinion.
CHC’s developers claim support from Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., NERA Economic Consulting, Renew Wisconsin, WPPI Energy, Allete Clean Energy, Pattern Energy (the developer of the proposed Uplands Wind farm in Lafayette and Iowa counties), Midcontinent Independent System Operator, American Clean Power, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Clean Grid Alliance, EDF Renewables, and the owners of the Badger Hollow Solar Farm project, Madison Gas & Electric, Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and WEC Energy Group.
Work on the Wisconsin side started with vegetation removal in Dane County Nov. 1, with work on the project in Grant and Iowa counties scheduled to start in the next few weeks along existing transmission lines and highway corridors and avoiding disputed wetlands.
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 near 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.
The project is expected to be online in December 2023, assuming it survives court challenges.