A long court battle over a $650 million high-voltage transmission line in the Midwest is literally reaching its last mile.
Utilities straddling the 102-mile Cardinal-Hickory Creek project from Iowa to Wisconsin are nearly complete, but it will be up to a court to decide whether they can complete a final 1.1-mile gap where the line crosses the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, a 241,000 square mile habitat for migratory birds, fish and wildlife.
Two of the utilities — ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative — completed a land exchange with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last week, and the deal is expected to close early next week, allowing the companies to move forward. But that deal has sparked a new lawsuit by three conservation groups that argue the land swap violates federal law.
“We shouldn't set a precedent that a simple land swap is all it takes to plow up a national treasure,” said Jennifer Filipiak, executive director of the Driftless Area Land Conservancy, one of the plaintiffs.
