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WI's Environmental Decade on transmission line June 2, 2000. ------------

Power Line Threatens Wisconsin's Air and Water Environmental impact statement fails to address up-wind pollution sources

Keith Reopelle, Program Director, The Defender, vol 30, no.3 June 2000

The much anticipated Duluth-to-Wausau transmission line draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) has been written and released by the staff at the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. The document is two volumes and more than 500 pages long. This is the 345 kilovolt, 250 mile transmission line proposed to be built by Wisconsin Public Service Corporation of Green Bay and Minnesota Power of Duluth.

We feel that one of the greatest shortcomings of the DEIS document is the lack of any analysis of impacts from additional generation to the north and west of Wisconsin resulting from this line. While the electricity carried on the proposed line will most likely come from a number of individual sources, some portion of it is bound to come from an increase in the electricity generated from existing coal plants.

Minnesota, like Wisconsin, generates about 70% of its electricity from coal plants. These often old and inefficient coal plants are exempt from modern power plant pollution standards through a loophole in the Clean Air Act, despite being by far the largest point sources of air pollutants in the nation (and in Wisconsin).

The Environmental Decade plans to analyze the impact on Wisconsin from increased releases of emissions which cause acid rain, mercury contamination, smog and global warming. This will be the major focus of the Decade's intervention in this proceeding, as local citizens are well organized under a group named Save Our Unique Lands (SOUL) , and funded by the Public Service Commission to analyze the direct physical environmental impacts of the line.

Besides the additional upwind coal-genration, utilities and their industrial customers alike are hopeful that the line will bring cheap hydro-electric power from Canada. Such sales from [sic] utilities that own the hydro-electric dams would only fuel the devastation of the Cree Indians whose home lands were flooded by these immense hydro-electric projects. "Manitoba Hydro destroyed my livelihood of fishing, hunting and trapping," said Ernest Monias, an Information Officer with the Pimicikamak Cree Nation in Cross Lake Manitoba.

"It's destroyed our recreation - swimming, boating, waterskiing -- that's all shot to hell. The loss of our environment -- that's affected me; the wildlife is a part of me. It's been devastating, " Monias added. "We'd like people to be aware of where their power is coming from and at what cost."

The draft EIS focuses on three general areas:

I. The Need for the Duluth-Wausau Line Wisconsin currently imports about 15 percent of its electricity. According to the DEIS, if we continue to import 15 percent, we would need at least an additional 360 megawatts of transfer capacity (infrastructure to deliver that much electricity over the transmission grid).

The proposed Duluth-Wausau line, however, would provide 3000 MWs of transfer capacity -- far more than Wisconsin alone could conceivably need. Developers are also currently pursuing 1500 MW of generation from new power plants.

II. Cost

A DEIS analysis based on the applicants' estimated cost of approximately $135 million finds that the transmission line would cost ratepayers less than any of three other options: natural gas power plant (about $190 million), wind generation (about $240 million) and whole tree biomass ($390 million).

The DEIS did not require an integrated approach that includes a package of generation alternatives and more limited transmission improvements and acknowledged that such an integrated approach could be less expensive than the proposed Duluth-Wausau line. The DEIS also, however, states that "a mechanism for implementing such an approach no longer exists." So despite its low cost, an integrated approach is supposedly beyond the ability of the PSC to require.

III. Environmental Impacts

Environmental impacts were examined for 8 different alternative transmission routes, originating from 4 points (2 alternative routes for each) in Minnesota. The environmental analysis evaluates these 8 transmission line options based on 11 factors:

land cover, county forest acreage, state properties, state trails, Nationwide Rivers Inventory (NRI), National Scenic Trails, National Scenic Riverways, Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) communities, Outstanding and Exceptional Resource Waters (OERW), road densities and population densities.

The staff's DEIS analysis finds that among the eight transmission options examined, one of the two major proposed routes for Duluth to Wausau ranks the highest in terms of susceptibility to environmental impact for nine of the eleven factors. This is the northern-most route and has the most public forest acres, river crossings, outstanding resource waters, trails, etc.

The alternative which ranked lowest in terms of susceptibility ot environmental impacts (i.e. would have the least impact) is one that would run from approximately just east of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, through Eau Claire and on to Wausau. This is not an alternative which is being proposed by the utilities.

Email: info@wakeupwisconsin.com