Xcel encounters more resistance to controversial power line
They may be virtually powerless to stop Xcel Energy from forcing another high-voltage transmission line through their area, but that hasn’t stopped landowners from Marshall to Becker from trying to pull the plug on the project anyway. At every stop of Xcel’s public meetings along the 175-mile route to date, farmers, residents and other property owners have put the behemoth utility on notice over the unpopular project.
The West Central Tribune carried an account of the latest rebuke to the line at the public meeting in Olivia.
Comments and questions raised during the public hearing on Thursday in Olivia ranged from the potential impacts on land values and agricultural operations to concerns about buzzing and noise from high-energy lines to whether the project is needed.
Has Xcel Energy considered building a new nuclear facility to replace the coal-fired Sherco plants that it will be decommissioning, asked Charlie Cunningham, who was among the more than 70 who attended the hearing. Upwards of 100 people attended hearings in Marshall and Granite Falls, according to Xcel.
The proposed 345-kilowatt Minnesota Energy Connection transmission line would carry solar and wind energy from southwestern Minnesota to compensate for the self-inflicted shutdown of the Sherco 2 power plant in Becker. Some local landowners are already too familiar with what’s coming next.
The northern route follows parts of the recently built CAPX power line, which concerned Paul Sheggeby, who lives south of Granite Falls.
“Kind of paid my dues,” he told the state agency representatives. He said the high-voltage line could impact land values.
Brian Greenslit, who farms in Renville County, already has a 110-kilovolt line about 245 yards from his home. On hot, humid days, he hears the loud buzzing and humming known as the corona effect from it. The proposed 345-kilovolt line is aligned 100 feet from his home, he said. He asked that its route be moved farther from his home.
It’s not only the potential impact on farm land and their quality of life. There’s a healthy skepticism over the need to build a line that’s already doubled in cost to more than one billion dollars since initially proposed at all.
The northern route follows parts of the recently built CAPX power line, which concerned Paul Sheggeby, who lives south of Granite Falls.
“Kind of paid my dues,” he told the state agency representatives. He said the high-voltage line could impact land values.
Brian Greenslit, who farms in Renville County, already has a 110-kilovolt line about 245 yards from his home. On hot, humid days, he hears the loud buzzing and humming known as the corona effect from it. The proposed 345-kilovolt line is aligned 100 feet from his home, he said. He asked that its route be moved farther from his home.
Yet farmers and other rural residents probably realize it’s best not to expect much from the climate alarmists at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and Department of Commerce in charge of the process.