#driftless area

Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

Excerpt from this story from Madison.com:

A federal appeals panel heard arguments Wednesday in a case involving a controversial power line through southwest Wisconsin that could influence future permitting decisions on lines considered critical for a clean energy transition.

Conservation groups oppose the line, known as Cardinal-Hickory Creek, which would run 102 miles between Dubuque, Iowa, and Middleton. They argue it is unneeded and too expensive, would mar the Driftless landscape and cannot legally cross the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

Utilities building the project at a cost of more than $500 million say it will improve reliability and deliver clean energy to places where it’s needed, while industry groups and academics argue the electric grid needs far more such long-distance lines to wean itself off fossil fuels.

The utilities are seeking to overturn U.S. District Court Judge William Conley’s ruling that the environmental review for the line was inadequate and that the project is incompatible with the wildlife refuge.

Conley barred the utilities from building within the 260,000-acre refuge, effectively blocking the planned river crossing, and ruled that a proposed land exchange cannot be used “to evade Congress’ mandate” for the refuge, which covers 261 river miles between Rock Island, Illinois, and Wabasha, Minnesota.

While they have not presented any alternative routes, the utilities have continued construction on either side of the river, spending at least $337.5 million, according to the most recent quarterly report to state regulators.

Opponents have asked the court to overturn Conley’s ruling that utilities can build outside of the refuge, which he called an “orchestrated train wreck.”

hiking at governor dodge state park in the southwestern driftless area of wisconsin.