From Karen Schwartz and Howie Hill

Fayette Township

To the Editor:

Make no mistake, the Driftless Region of Wisconsin is under attack. Although Wisconsinites have at least temporarily stopped data center complexes from threatening the area, the push for energy companies to build infrastructure is now relentless. Incentivized by government subsidies and the prospect of the increased energy demand of data centers, massive energy project proposals are sweeping the Driftless. Cloaked in non-disclosure agreements, companies like Pattern Energy and Invenergy are counting on small towns’ lack of local control to grab land rights for 30-50 years and disregard the environmental and health risks of building on soft karst geology with lead and zinc mines. With the current Public Service Commission (PSC) in place, these energy companies are correct to think they can do it. One year ago, in September 2025, the PSC officially approved the 19-turbine Badger Hollow Wind Energy Center spanning across five rural Driftless townships despite local outcry. Yes, around 100 local landowners signed leases in secrecy and with NDAs before their neighbors understood what was about to hit them.

The MariBell Transmission Line and the BECI Transmission Line projects are both 765-kV lines proposed to cut through the Driftless Region, drilling deep into the soft limestone-karst terrain. The reason for these massive disturbances is to connect power including solar and industrial scale wind projects to the grid. So, let’s talk about the massive 650-foot industrial scale wind turbines threatening to drive at least 40 feet into the same fragile geology. All of this drilling creates the real risk of creating sink holes and groundwater/aquifer contamination in this unglaciated terrain where rural residents rely almost exclusively on private water wells.

Pattern Energy’s Uplands Wind project pre-application proposes nearly 134-180 turbines 656-700-feet tall in Grant, Iowa and LaFayette Counties. With Pattern Energy’s investors consisting of three foreign governments, it is the largest proposed wind project in the entire state of Wisconsin threatening the irreplaceable Driftless Region of Wisconsin near three state parks.

Protecting the Driftless Area is not just a local concern. The Driftless Region has one of the highest concentrations of cold-water streams on the planet, creating some of the best trout fishing. What effect will these heavy industrial turbines, on highly erodible substrate, have on the production of the Driftless streams and the economies of outdoor tourism they support?

With deep ancestral roots, the people in Wisconsin are rising up to protect The Driftless. Rise-up, Wisconsin!