A power line. Two sides of a coin. The compost bin is a backyard solution to a resource need, taking kitchen and yard waste and transforming them into fertilizer. The power line is an international solution to a resource need, taking electricity generated one place and moving it hundreds or thousands of miles to the place where it is used. It seems that the environmental issues associated with the proposed project all come from this unfortunate scenario.
Electricity is needed in one place.
Electricity is made in another place. But this solution to the resource problem creates many environmental problems. The power line would cut a 150-foot wide swath through prime forest and farm lands, disrupting habitats. Fragmentation of northern hardwood forests such as those of northern Wisconsin effects the population of native migratory songbirds. While the jury is out on this, the power line would introduce potentially harmful electromagnetic fields.