Resources

About the Project

Gopher to Badger Link — Official Project Site

The utility-run website for the overall Gopher to Badger project, including maps, FAQs, and regulatory filings. Useful for understanding what the developers are saying about the project.

MariBell Transmission — Official Project Site

Dairyland Power Cooperative's project page for the MariBell segment, including the FAQ and project details specific to the Minnesota-to-Wisconsin corridor.

Root River Current: Gopher to Badger Overview

A clear, locally-focused summary of the proposed line and what it would mean for Southeast Minnesota communities.

Minnesota Reformer: Red States Move to Stop Transmission Lines

A thorough look at the broader political fight over the MISO Tranche 2.1 projects, including the Gopher to Badger line, and the competing interests at stake.

Counties Adopt Transmission Line Resolutions — SW News

News coverage of the county board resolutions passed in Houston County, MN, and Crawford, Vernon, and Richland counties in Wisconsin opposing or requesting more information about the line.

The Regulatory Process

Minnesota PUC Energy Infrastructure Permitting

The official state portal for the transmission line permitting process, including project pages, docket access, and instructions for submitting public comments.

MPUC Docket CN-25-121 — Dairyland Power Certificate of Need

The official docket for the MariBell Certificate of Need application. Search "CN-25-121" to access all filings, comments, and documents in the case record.

How to Intervene — Minnesota Public Utilities Commission

Step-by-step guidance on how to become a formal party in a PUC proceeding, with significantly more rights than a standard public commenter.

NO765MN and North Route Group Petition for Intervention

The formal legal petition filed by NO765MN and the North Route Group requesting intervention in the MPUC dockets — a useful model and reference document.

Landowner Rights

MPUC Landowner Information Page

The state's official overview of landowner rights in transmission line cases, including information on the Buy the Farm provision and eminent domain.

Minnesota "Buy the Farm" Law — Minn. Stat. § 216E.12

The full text of Minnesota's Buy the Farm statute, which gives agricultural landowners the right to require a utility to purchase their entire property if a high-voltage line is forced onto it through eminent domain.

Land Stewardship Project: Family Farms and the Buy the Farm Law

A plain-language explanation of the Buy the Farm law and its history, written for farmers and landowners.

Minnesota Department of Commerce: Rights-of-Way and Easements Fact Sheet

An official state guide explaining how utilities acquire easements, what landowners' rights are during negotiations, and what happens if agreement cannot be reached.

Alternatives to Overhead Transmission

MISO Long Range Transmission Plan — Overview

MISO's own documentation of the Tranche 2.1 planning process, including the cost-benefit analysis used to justify projects like Gopher to Badger.

NextGen Highways — Minnesota Coalition

Information on the effort to route new transmission along existing highway corridors — a potential alternative to cutting new paths through farmland and sensitive landscapes.

David Patton / Potomac Economics — Independent Evaluation

Potomac Economics serves as the independent market monitor for MISO. Their analyses of MISO's cost projections and planning assumptions are among the most credible third-party sources for challenging the claimed need for the line.

Related Cases Elsewhere

Grain Belt Express — Illinois Supreme Court Ruling (Capitol News Illinois)

Coverage of the decade-long legal battle over the Grain Belt Express HVDC line, which shares many parallels with the Gopher to Badger fight.

Rural Texans Fight a High-Voltage Transmission Line — Route Fifty

A look at the Howard-Solstice 765kV fight in Texas, where landowners are raising the same karst geology and local-benefit concerns as Southeast Minnesota residents.