Back to Top Minnesota End of Line Gets OK Minnesota environmental regulators gave the go-ahead for the Minnesota side of a controversial power line that will run across northern Wisconsin and end up in Wausau. The state said permits can be obtained from local government groups to build without providing more extensive research on the project. Only 12 miles of the 250-miles of line are located in Minnesota and it will run along existing right of ways, hence the lack of serious questions from the government folks.
Environmentalists view the decision as a setback in their efforts to stop the power line.
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin concluded technical hearings on the project at the end of February, and it could issue a final ruling as early as July. If approved with no delays, the new transmission system could be operational in 2004. A new report by John Downing, an Iowa State University researcher, estimates that Iowa's list of seriously polluted rivers and lakes will grow tenfold in the next three years. And taxpayers, especially farmers, will carry the cost of the cleanup as they are forced to pay for buffer strips and other techniques to keep pollutants from running off farms. Iowa already has 157 river stretches and lakes on a federal list of waters that have special pollution limits and cleanup plans.