Alma preps for power line possibilities

Paul Snyder
paul.snyder@dailyreporter.com

Alma’s Great River Road might mark the line between local acceptance and opposition to a $400 million aboveground transmission project.

Alma Mayor Corey Hanson said he understands why the CapX2020 project team is considering Alma as the Wisconsin entry point for the power line connecting the Twin Cities to La Crosse. He said he also understands what could happen if the project runs along the Great River Road — or Highway 35, which is a scenic byway along the Mississippi River.

“Then I think you’re going to see a lot of people come out against it,” he said.

CapX2020 is an initiative led by Xcel Energy and Great River Energy to upgrade and expand the electric transmission grid in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. The grid’s last major upgrade took place 25 years ago.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission granted the CapX2020 utilities a certificate of need to construct three, 345-kV electric transmission lines in Minnesota. Planners are now collecting data for possible routes.

While there are three possible entry points into Wisconsin, Tom Hillstrom, a project spokesman, said planners prefer crossing the Mississippi in Alma, about 60 miles northwest of La Crosse.

The power line also could cross the Mississippi at Winona, Minn., or near La Crosse. But Hillstrom said there is a natural wildlife refuge near Winona, and La Crosse is fully developed and offers little room for new routes.

But the crossing into Alma could include power lines along portions of the Great River Road, and Charley Weeth, executive director of Citizens for a Scenic Wisconsin Inc., said his group is watching closely as the plan takes shape.

“The bluffs are so close to the road, and there are some points there where there’s barely enough room for the road and rail tracks,” he said. “I don’t see how they could do it on that terrain without significantly adding to project costs.”

When CapX2020 planners first pitched the Alma option in June, they discussed running the line from Alma southeast to Blair and then south to La Crosse, a route that would spare much of Highway 35.

But even if the line runs along the road for only a short distance, Weeth said, there could be problems.

The Great River Road is an important part of this state’s tourist and travel economy,” he said, “especially in the fall, when you have a lot of people traveling to see the leaves and buy apples and maple syrups. Anything that would aesthetically impact it has to be examined.”

State law prohibits the development of billboards along scenic byways, Weeth said, but there are no protections against transmission lines.

Yet Hillstrom said it is too soon to debate transmission line placement.

“Alma is not necessarily the route that’s been picked,” he said. “It’s simply our stated preference right now.”

CapX2020 will file its applications with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission later this year and the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin early next year. Reviews are expected to take about a year, and Hillstrom said the line could be operational by 2015.

Hanson said even though nobody wants new transmission lines in their backyard, the project is necessary.

“Would it suck if the lines ran through Alma?” he said. “Yes, to a certain extent. But I also think everyone understands that we need power to keep the lights on, and if that’s the way to do it, it has to be considered.”