Utilities looking to finish building a high-voltage power line linking Iowa and Wisconsin completed a contentious land deal last Thursday that allows them to build on a Mississippi River federal wildlife refuge, the Associated Press reports.
American Transmission Co., ITC Midwest, and Dairyland Power Coop. have nearly finished the Cardinal–Hickory Creek transmission line. If completed, the 345-kilovolt line would stretch 102 miles from Iowa’s Dubuque County to Wisconsin’s Dane County. A mile-long section of the line would cross the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge near Cassville.
Conservation groups filed a lawsuit in March seeking to block the refuge crossing. They contend the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued final approvals for the crossing without adequate public comment. They also allege that the fish and wildlife service and the utilities improperly reached a deal calling for the utilities to transfer about 36 acres south of Cassville to the refuge in exchange for 10 acres within the refuge for the line.
U.S. District Judge William Conley issued a preliminary injunction preventing the utilities and the agency from closing the deal, but a federal appellate court invalidated the order.
Rodney Pritchard, a spokesperson for ITC Midwest, said the utilities and the agency closed the deal Thursday. He said it’s unclear when construction will begin.
The conservation groups asked Conley on Thursday to issue another injunction. The judge has set a hearing for Tuesday.
