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Wisconsin grants final approval to 345-kV Cardinal-Hickory Creek line

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Wisconsin grants final approval to 345-kV Cardinal-Hickory Creek line

A 345-kV transmission line from Iowa to Wisconsin moved another step forward as Wisconsin regulators granted final approval to the project.

The Wisconsin Public Service Commission on Sept. 26 released a final decision approving a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line. The commission in August gave verbal approval to the project from American Transmission Company LLC, ITC Holdings Corp. subsidiary ITC Midwest LLC and Dairyland Power Cooperative.

The transmission line — to run approximately 100 miles from Dane County, Wis., to Dubuque County, Iowa — also includes the construction of a new substation in Montfort, Wis. In its decision, the commission said the project "addresses the need to improve electric system reliability locally and regionally, deliver economic savings for Wisconsin utilities and electric consumers, and provide infrastructure to support the public policy of greater access to renewable-based electric generation."

Regional grid operator Midcontinent ISO designated the line as one of its "multivalue projects" needed to improve the region's overall reliability and bring wind power to market. Costs for the project, estimated at $492 million, will be shared across the northern MISO region. The cost to Wisconsin ratepayers will be roughly $66 million, the companies said in a news release.

The companies will begin contacting Wisconsin property owners along the route starting this fall. If Iowa regulators and federal agencies approve the project, construction is expected to start in 2021, with the line to become operational in 2023.

In the same order, regulators rejected a motion for recusal and disqualification of two commissioners in the case, saying it lacked "a legitimate factual basis to support" such a move.

The Driftless Area Land Conservancy and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, which both opposed the project, argued that Commissioner Mike Huebsch and Chair Rebecca Cameron Valcq's participation in the case presented a conflict of interest.

The groups argued that Huebsch's representation of the commission in the Organization of MISO States and his participation in that capacity with MISO, including his membership on the MISO Advisory Committee, precluded his participation in this proceeding. Valcq, meanwhile, should remove herself from the case because of her past employment at We Energies, whose parent company WEC Energy Group Inc., owns around 60% of American Transmission Co., the group said.

In denying the commission said this information had been available for months, if not years, before the commission's Aug. 20 vote to approve the project. Further, the groups did not prove any impartiality or bias by the commissioners in the case. The commission also said Huebsch and Valcq's participation "complied with all applicable ethical and legal standards." (Wisconsin PSC Docket 5-CE-146)