Will the PSC be objective judge?
By Rob Zaleski - The Capitol Times
December 20, 1999
Can northern Wisconsin residents opposed to the proposed "Power Up Wisconsin'' 345-kilovolt
transmission line expect to get a fair shake from the state Public Service Commission?
Ed Garvey, the former Democratic gubernatorial candidate who represents a group trying to stop the
line, has his doubts.
He notes that various officials from one of the two utilities proposing the line, the Wisconsin Public
Service Corp. of Green Bay, have contributed more than $9,000 to Gov. Tommy Thompson's
campaign fund over the last six years. And since Thompson, who's known to favor the line, has
appointed all three Public Service Commission members, who knows how much influence he'll have
on their decision whether to approve the highly controversial project, Garvey says.
And Garvey, who has been retained by the grass-roots organization Save Our Unique Lands, isn't
the only who's suspicious.
State Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, says, "Unfortunately, the odds aren't very good'' that the
PSC will be objective in deciding whether the line should be built.
"The PSC has become very political under Tommy,'' Black says, "and very inclined to rubber stamp
what the utilities want.''
Which is why, Black says, he and several other legislators have filed to become formal parties in the
proceedings and help monitor the commission's activities.
"We want to make sure that the evaluation of this line is complete and unbiased,'' he says. "I'm going
to be watching that very closely.''
Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and its partner in the project, Minnesota Power Co. of Duluth, filed
an application for the proposed line last month. The Public Service Commission is expected to
complete an environmental impact statement on the project next spring and plans to hold a series of
public hearings in northwestern and north-central Wisconsin next summer.
It hopes to announce its decision on the project next September or October, according to Patricia
McCormack, administrator of the commission's electrical division.
McCormack says that anyone who suggests the Public Service Commission might be biased
obviously doesn't understand how the process works.
She says that as many as 15 PSC staffers will be researching the project and involved in writing the
environmental impact statement. They also will take part in the public hearings and make
recommendations to the three commission members.
"We objectively review the data and make our decisions based on that,'' McCormack says. In
addition, the staff hopes to meet regularly with Garvey and members of SOUL, "since obviously
they're a huge part of the process.''
The governor, she adds, is never involved at any level of the decision-making.
Some people, however, refuse to believe that.
Mark Stremer, a SOUL member and teacher at Marathon High School, says he knows a number of
people who think it's a waste of time to try to stop the Power Up Wisconsin line.
Not because they don't believe in the cause, he says, but because they believe the decision has
already been made in a back room.
"They think it's a done deal.''
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