Cardinal Hickory Creek Transmission Line

press release: A public meeting to discuss potential consequences and alternatives to a high voltage electricity transmission line proposed for construction through the Driftless area of southwestern Wisconsin is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, December 15, in the gymnasium at Arena Elementary School, 314 Willow Street, along State Highway 14 in the Village of Arena.

Residents, property owners, local officials, and conservation/environmental groups will discuss impacts of the proposed 125-mile Cardinal Hickory Creek (CHC) transmission line from Iowa to Middleton. The meeting in Arena is informally sponsored by the rural townships of Wyoming and Arena, in Iowa County, and by the Town of Vermont, Dane County. Residents, property owners, and officials of other townships and municipalities in the area are invited and expected to attend. Town board chairpersons expected at the meeting include: Barbara Grenlie, Town of Vermont; John Hess, Town of Wyoming; and David Lucey, Town of Arena.

More than 120 local governments—including towns, villages, and counties—adopted resolutions formally asking the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) and the utility transmission corporations to conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis comparing the proposed 345 kV transmission line with non-transmission alternatives.

An estimated 800-900 rural residents and property owners in Dane and Iowa counties also signed letters supporting the need for careful consideration of the potential costs to Wisconsin ratepayers and the benefits, or lack thereof, received should the CHC line be built. Concerns include the fact that a significant part of the $500 million CHC project cost will be added to Wisconsin ratepayer’s bills for decades. Corporations proposing the line are American Transmission Co., ITC Midwest LLC, and Dairyland Power Cooperative.

Alliant Energy Corp. calculates the cost for regional transmission services at $20 per month for residential users. For 2015-16, the cost of regional transmission increased $2.30 per month, three times the amount Wisconsin invests for renewable energy benefits. Excessive spending for transmission and power plants over the last 15 years makes Wisconsin’s electricity rates highest in the Midwest and sixth in rate-of-increase among the 50 states.

If built, CHC would be the eighth high capacity transmission project approved by the PSC in the last 10 years. But the potential advantages of non-transmission alternatives, such as locally produced solar energy, haven’t received careful study in comparison to the traditional and costly inter-state transmission lines carrying fossil fuel-produced electricity through Wisconsin to other states

In addition to rural townships and other governments, representatives of citizen groups at the Arena meeting are expected, including the Driftless Area Land Conservancy, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Driftless Defenders, and S.O.U.L. of Wisconsin.