Commission gives a powerful message
6:12 PM 1/15/04

The only thing wrong with the state Public Service Commission's approval of a controversial high-voltage power line in northern Wisconsin is that it won't get the line built immediately. <

Opponents of a plan to build a $420 million high voltage power line from Duluth, Minn., to Wausau this week asked a judge to overturn state approval of the project. Even if the project proceeds, the line is not expected to be in service until 2008. <

The PSC decision last month should have sent a powerful message to Wisconsin about the urgency of the need to upgrade the power transmission system that carries electricity into and around the state. Those who filed the lawsuit this week apparently weren't listening to what each of the three Public Service Commissioners had to say. <

Chairwoman Burnie Bridge: "Wisconsin has some very serious (electric power) reliability concerns." <

Ave Bie: "Reinforcements are needed, and they are needed now." <

Bert Garvin: "I believe as strongly as I did two years ago that we need a solution now." <

The commissioners' message will need to be repeated again and again because the northern power line is only part of the solution. The Madison area will have to confront controversial decisions about its high-voltage line service as well. <

The transmission network that serves Wisconsin's need for electricity should have been updated around 1990. But it wasn't because utilities and regulators were distracted by deregulation issues. Now the state and the American Transmission Co., a product of deregulation which now provides electric transmission service, must act with deliberate speed to keep up with demand and to control the risk of power outages. <

The threat reaches beyond temporary blackouts in our homes and businesses to our state's long-term economic well-being. Worries about power reliability will discourage businesses from expanding or locating in the state. <

To be sure, opposition to high-voltage power lines deserves to be heard. The lines are intrusive and expensive. Public input can help the transmission company and the PSC weigh options to ease environmental and cost concerns as well as the impact on landowners. <

Despite the vigorous opposition, the PSC was right to approve the line. The commission correctly determined that the common good derived from upgrading the power grid overwhelmed the objections. <

ATC also has in its plans a $250-million upgrade of the power grid serving south-central and southwestern Wisconsin. Included is the addition of a high-voltage line from northern Illinois to Madison and out through southwestern Wisconsin to Dubuque, Iowa. <

The details of ATC's plan deserve to be examined. Measures that can reasonably minimize the cost and impact should be considered. But the courts, regulators and citizens should keep the common good foremost in mind. The power transmission system needs a substantial upgrade, and it needs that upgrade soon.