In at least a couple of Forum newspapers:<\/p>\n
Trent Opstedahl<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Moving into the last leg of the planning process, Minnesota Power is hoping the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will approve the proposed route for its Great Northern Transmission Line, which would run from the northwest corner of the state near Roseau to Hermantown. The line would carry power generated by hydroelectric plants in Manitoba.<\/a><\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s meeting in Roseau, which drew a crowd of about 45, and others like it will allow the commission to gather public input about two proposed routes. The input will be taken into consideration when an environmental impact survey is released later this year, which ultimately determines which route Minnesota Power will have to pursue when it constructs the transmission line in 2017.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt was helpful, but it appears they only say so much and it\u2019s hard to get real answers,\u201d said Rice, who attended the meeting.<\/a><\/p>\n As it stands, the proposed route would force Rice to sell 48 acres of farmland \u2014 farmland that has been in his family for four generations.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThere are lots of issues they don\u2019t really think about,\u201d he said. \u201cI won\u2019t be able to do any aerial application \u2014 to fly around (the 150-foot poles); they just aren\u2019t going to do it.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Uncertainty<\/a><\/p>\n While no specific design for the transmission line has been selected, the 750-megawatt line is expected to be fully operational by 2020 with a lifespan of nearly 120 years.<\/a><\/p>\n A 3,000-foot corridor will mark out where the line will run from Canada into the Iron Range, but the actual line can be constructed anywhere within the corridor, which has landowner Darin Heller concerned.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know where it will actually go compared to where they say it would go along the road,\u201d he said. \u201cMy concern is they will use that discretion to put it in the easiest route for them, not the least intrusive.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Heller said about 90 percent of his property in Dieter Township falls within the corridor.<\/a><\/p>\n Despite his concerns, Minnesota Power said it has proposed the least intrusive route options based on more than 75 stakeholder meetings it has organized throughout the last two years.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe want to make sure we are siting this line with the least possible disruption to people and the environment,\u201d said Amy Rutledge, a spokeswoman for Minnesota Power. \u201cIt\u2019s a very thoughtful, lengthy process.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Airport impact<\/a><\/p>\n One of the latest concerns to arise is the line\u2019s proximity to the Piney-Pinecreek Border Airport located along the U.S.-Canada border in Dieter Township.<\/a><\/p>\n The proposed power line would fall within the right-of-way for a planned 1,500-foot expansion of the north-south runway, and also hinder plans for a crosswind landing strip heading east-west. The Minnesota Department of Transportation, which owns the airport, is not currently working on the project but has it on file for the future.<\/a><\/p>\n Marlin Elton, chairman of the Piney-Pinecreek Airport Commission, is pressuring Minnesota Power and Manitoba Hydro to shift the entire power line route farther east to avoid the aviation complications.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re dealing with organizations like this, they are standing to make lots of money, but they are losing sight of what they are trampling over,\u201d Elton said.<\/a><\/p>\n He said he is initiating conversation with the Federal Aviation Administration to see what more can be done to push for the route to be moved east toward Department of Natural Resources land \u2014 an area Elton, Heller and Rice said would be less intrusive because it is state land.<\/a><\/p>\n Like Rice, Elton also would have to forfeit about 48 acres of farmland he uses to grow certified seed grass to make way for the proposed transmission line.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve spent a lot of time and money to maintain certification status, and this is a step backwards,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce (Minnesota Power) is approved by the environmentalists, eminent domain kicks in, and that\u2019s a whole different ballgame.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Area meetings<\/strong><\/p>\n The U.S. Department of Energy is holding more public input meetings on the Great Northern Transmission Line at the following times:<\/p>\n Kelliher<\/strong><\/p>\n Wednesday: 11 a.m. at Kelliher Public School, 345 Fourth St. N.W.<\/p>\n Bigfork<\/strong><\/p>\n Wednesday: 6 p.m. at Bigfork School, 100 Huskie Boulevard.<\/p>\n Grand Rapids<\/strong><\/p>\n Thursday: 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the Sawmill Inn, S. U.S. Highway 169, Grand Rapids, Minn.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n More info: 1.usa.gov\/1mX00NR<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In at least a couple of Forum newspapers: Landowners riled up by Minnesota power line By Forum News Service on Jul 19, 2014 at 10:46 p.m. \u00a0 Trent Opstedahl Forum News Service ROSEAU \u2014 The first of eight public meetings … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[58,67,68,9,66],"class_list":["post-535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","tag-carol-a-overland","tag-doe","tag-environmental-impact-statement","tag-great-northern-transmission-line","tag-u-s-dept-of-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/not-so-great-northern-transmission-line.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/not-so-great-northern-transmission-line.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/not-so-great-northern-transmission-line.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/not-so-great-northern-transmission-line.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/not-so-great-northern-transmission-line.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=535"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/not-so-great-northern-transmission-line.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":537,"href":"https:\/\/not-so-great-northern-transmission-line.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions\/537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/not-so-great-northern-transmission-line.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/not-so-great-northern-transmission-line.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/not-so-great-northern-transmission-line.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}