Wisconsin
Contentious clean power linkup between Iowa and Wisconsin finally enters service
Tundra swans congregate at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge
Tundra swans and other waterfowl gather on the Mississippi River between Stoddard, Wis. and Brownsville, Minn.In a half-mile stretch of the river, several thousand tundra swans congregate while on their migration south from Alaska and northern Canada
Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A high-voltage transmission line carrying clean power from Iowa to Wisconsin overcame lengthy environmental pushback to enter service this week, some 13 years after grid operators approved the project, developers said Friday.
The Cardinal-Hickory Creek 345,000-volt transmission line, which ships clean power from Iowa to Wisconsin, came to exemplify the struggles of constructing U.S. power lines at a time of swiftly rising electricity demand. Environmental groups had sued to stop it from traversing the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge near Cassville, Wisconsin, north of Dubuque.
“Following years of work, including numerous opportunities for public input, extensive regulatory and environmental review, and construction, the entire Cardinal-Hickory Creek line has been placed in service,” said Dusky Terry, president of the line’s co-owner ITC Midwest. ATC and Dairyland Power Cooperative also are partial owners of the 102-mile project.
More: With Three Mile Island nuclear plant seeking to reopen, could Iowa’s Duane Arnold be next?
As of June, 160 renewable generation projects in the upper Midwestern states totaling nearly 25 gigawatts of capacity were dependent upon completion of the Cardinal-Hickory Creek line, the co-owners said.
The Biden administration applauded the completion of the line and lauded it as a crucial step towards bringing clean power to the Midwest.
“It takes perseverance to build the infrastructure we need and the Cardinal Hickory Creek Project proves that we can get the job done by bringing clean, affordable power to Wisconsin and Iowa,” said John Podesta, senior advisor to President Joe Biden for international climate policy.
In May, a U.S. appeals court lifted a lower court’s order blocking a land exchange needed before developers could build the final stretch of the major clean-energy transmission line through the wildlife refuge.