About 40 people gathered Tuesday afternoon for the first of four public hearings to tell state regulators what they think about American Transmission Co.’s proposal to build a 345-kilovolt power line from the east edge of Dane County to the west. And the views of the dozen or so who spoke ran the gamut.

The new line "is very much needed" to meet growing electricity demands, said Roger Cole, of Merrimac, chairman of Wisconsin Utility Investors. "If we’re going to continue to encourage growth, we must provide the needed infrastructure."

The proposed line would extend from Rockdale west to the Middleton area. Of the two main alternative routes, one would follow the Beltline, for the most part, and would run 35 miles and cost an estimated $214 million. The other would cut through 55 miles of more rural parts of western and southern Dane County and cost about $244 million, ATC says.

The Beltline route may be more urban, but trees and nature areas at the UW Arboretum, as envisioned by conservationist Aldo Leopold, would be among the casualties, some speakers said.

Michael Briggs, a former Madison alderman who now lives in the town of Oregon, said, the southern route would traverse dramatic countryside, some carved out by glaciers millions of years ago, and some untouched.

"I have a feeling that Aldo Leopold, if he were alive today, would not be pleased about these towers marching through productive agricultural land," Briggs said.

Dane County already is losing farmland at one of the fastest rates in the country, said Chris Johnson, a supervisor for the town of Oregon. The Beltline route would be less destructive, he said. "The shortest route is the logical line," Johnson said.

But the Beltline alternative could travel over Odana Hills park and golf course, a "precious resource" for the neighborhood, said West Side resident Robert Meyer. It would send a message that city parkland is "a disposable commodity," he said, adding, "I can only regard this as an outrage."

Fred Moore is chief engineer for WBUW-TV (Ch. 57), which built the huge tower next door to WMTV (Ch. 15) along Forward Drive, and shares it with WMTV. He works in the transmitter building at the tower’s base.

If the Beltline route were on the south side of the highway, it would run so close to the tower that television broadcasts could be "adversely affected by electrical noise." And Moore’s worries don’t stop there. "I’m personally concerned for my safety and fear for my life if this line is constructed," he said.

Moore said the north side of the Beltline already has Madison Gas & Electric lines and would be more appropriate.

Dane County Sup. Dianne Hesselbein, of Middleton, said if the Beltline route is chosen, it should be built underground, from Stoughton Road to west of Middleton. ATC has estimated that could add as much as $368 million to the cost. ATC is not including an underground route among its alternatives. But the Public Service Commission is not counting out burying parts of the line.

A second public hearing was held Tuesday evening. The other two are at 1 and 6 p.m. today at the state Public Service Commission, 610 N. Whitney Way.

The PSC is expected to act on ATC’s proposal in June.

Some invoked the names of environmentalist Aldo Leopold. Others touted the cause of economic development, and still others expressed fears of eroding property values and threats to personal safety.