PUC proceedings update
Success Begins In The Off-Season! By T.H.
Thursday, 4/9/26 the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission deferred consideration of a contested case in the Gopher to Badger Link project until fall. The commission decided to consider the certificate of need and route at the same time.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce now has 60 days to gather information needed information about the proposed Maribell Transmission line.
Now the department of commerce has time to research the proposal. And then we get a chance to comment.
Dairyland Power, Xcel Energy and their associates would like the Gopher to Badger Link as separate from all of the other 765kv projects including South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.
There are two projects in Minnesota and neither work without the other: The Gopher to Badger Link(docket 25-121) going from the Mississippi River to Marion MN and then from Marion to North Rochester, and 2: the PowerOn Midwest(docket 25-117) going from Rochester to the South Dakota border. To make things even more complicated, the Marion to Mississippi river segment is part of a project going from Marion to Bell Center, WI(MariBell Transmission Line).
We at no765mn are not the only ones questioning this logic of these as seperate projects. At the April 9, PUC meeting, members of the board were also skeptical of looking at these projects as seperate.
“We’ve just got to make sure people understand what is being presented to them,” PUC commissioner Joseph K. Sullivan said at the meeting.
We as members of no765mn applaud this way of looking at things and hope the commissioners will give us, as concerned citizens, a chance to give our legitimate complaints.
It’s not a group of projects. It’s one big project and it’s one big problem!
Now is our time! We need to contact our neighbors and friends and let them know what Dairyland and their associates are trying to do. We need to learn, and we need to fight!
We have a chance to have our voices heard!
Good enough is not good enough for the people of the Driftless Region. It’s time to speak with your neighbors so we can all speak truth to power.
The fight is just beginning and we need to be ready!
by T.H.
