NSP, regulators ordered to testify about electric
project
Judge will try to see whether talks included Chisago-Apple
River line
By Lee Bergquist- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Jan. 4, 2000
Executives of Northern States Power Co. and three state utility regulators have
been ordered to testify about whether they inappropriately discussed a
controversial electric transmission project in western Wisconsin and eastern
Minnesota.
The decision by a Washburn County Circuit Court judge once again raises
questions over whether members of the state Public Service Commission have
met privately with utility executives to discuss a case before them.
Opponents of the failed combination of Minneapolis-based NSP and Wisconsin
Energy Corp. of Milwaukee raised similar questions during merger proceedings -
but an independent inquiry found no wrongdoing. The merger collapsed in 1997.
Judge Eugene D. Harrington ruled last week that lawyers for the City of St. Croix
Falls could take depositions from participants of an Oct. 14, 1998, meeting in
Madison to learn whether the so-called Chisago-Apple River transmission line
was discussed.
Harrington took over the case after two judges in Polk County, where St. Croix
Falls is, withdrew.
The PSC voted in May 1999 to approve the hotly contested 39-mile line, saying
that despite local concerns, the fast-growing region northeast of the Twin Cities
desperately needs more electric capacity.
The $51.6 million project would be built jointly by NSP and Dairyland Power, a La
Crosse electric cooperative. Minnesota regulators have not yet approved the
project.
St. Croix Falls and a local group that opposed the line have challenged the
decision.
After the parties have testified, Harrington will rule on the entire project.
"We're very pleased that the judge sees there's an issue here," said Frank
Jablonski, a lawyer for St. Croix Falls.
Jablonski said there is a growing trend of "complacency" between state regulators
and businesses they regulate that makes them subject to influence.
Noted the judge:
"An attempt to foster cozy relations between the CEO of a regulated company
and the regulators charged with protecting the public interest lends considerable
support to the cynics' view that the process was not fair."
But representatives of both the PSC and NSP said Monday that the Chisago
transmission line was not discussed, and that discussions between utilities and
regulators go on all the time so both sides can better understand each other.
In this case, NSP met with the three PSC members to introduce Jerry Larsen, the
company's new president of Wisconsin operations, and to discuss other issues,
NSP said.
Judge allows questioning of PSC members
UPDATE TO ABOVE STORY
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A northern Wisconsin judge on Monday expanded an
investigation into a June 1999 decision by the Public Service Commission to
approve part of a power line from Chisago, Minn. to Apple River, Wis.
Washburn County Circuit Judge Eugene Harrington ordered all three
commission members to testify under oath about a private meeting with
Northern States Power Co. CEO Jerry Larsen before the decision.
"An attempt to foster cozy relations between the CEO of a regulated company
and the regulators charged with protecting the public interest lends considerable
support to the cynics' view that the process was not fair," Harrington wrote.
Agency lawyers argued that the meeting was just to introduce themselves.
Harrington said there was a suspicious lack of notes or records from the
meeting.
"The lack of notes, particularly by lawyers that are compulsive note-takers,
causes one to hesitate when considering whether the meeting was really about
legislative mandates or some other undisclosed purpose," he wrote.
Attorneys for the city of St. Croix Falls now will be allowed to question
commissioners in legal depositions and through written questions. Harrington will
then make a ruling on the case.
The 38-mile, 230-kilovolt power line is proposed by Northern States Power of
Wisconsin and Dairyland Power Cooperative.
Opponents have argued the proposed line would have a negative environmental
impact where it would cross the St. Croix River at Interstate State Park. Their
hope is for the court to overturn the PSC's decision.
The proposed line also has received opposition in Minnesota, where regulators
have not granted a permit for the planned 13-mile stretch of the line in that state.
Frank Jablonski, an attorney representing the city of St. Croix Falls, said the
ruling could affect the Public Service Commission's approval of a separate
proposal for a 345-kilovolt, 250-mile transmission line from Duluth, Minn., to
Wausau.
State Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, said the judge's ruling was a "stinging
rebuke" of the utility regulators, who he says have become increasingly political.
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