Legalectric

It’s all connected — and here’s the eastern part of the 765kV line across Minnesota, from South Dakota headed east across the Mississippi into Wisconsin — the western web comments were due Monday:

Reply Comments filed – SW MN 765kV lines March 3rd, 2026

Today’s inbasket had good news for us on the eastern end, where they want to follow a 161kV line across SE Minnesota’s Driftless region — the good news is that “Gopher to Badger” backed off of its asinine “informal process” and:

Applicants request that the Commission stay the Certificate of Need Application and process it jointly with the Route Permit Application, which Applicants intend to submit this fall.

Informal process?!?!?! How stupid do they think we are?

Good, they’re being reasonable. Did they really think they could get away with “informal process” that does not exist?

Anyway, Reply Comments were due Wednesday and here is ours, NRG and NO765MN:

GET TO WORK!

Here’s the Notice with “Topics for Comments” (PUC Docket CN-25-121) and how to file comments.

FYI: MN PUC – How To eDockets

Most important is that the notion of “informal process” is UNACCEPTABLE. This is a HUGE project, and first of a kind 765kV transmission in Minnesota, in the Midwest… so many miles over such sensitive area, WHAT ARE THEY THINKING! Check this out and send in Comments:

Yeah, they’re this big — imagine this over southern Minnesota, the Driftless and across the Mississippi through Wisconsin!

Folks, this one is HUGE! It’s FOUR dockets now consolidated into CN-25-117. “Power on Midwest” is:

• Big Stone South-Brookings County-SD/MN Border 765 kV
  MISO LRTP #22 – South Dakota portion
  Otter Tail Power Company, Xcel Energy
• SD/MN Border-Lakefield Junction 765 kV
  MISO LRTP #22 – Minnesota portion
  ITC Midwest, Otter Tail Power Company, Xcel Energy
• Lakefield Junction-MN/IA Border 765 kV
  MISO LRTP #23
  ITC Midwest
• Lakefield Junction-Pleasant Valley-North Rochester 765 kV
  MISO LRTP #24
  Great River Energy, ITC Midwest, Xcel Energy
• Pleasant Valley-North Rochester-Hampton 345 kV
  MISO LRTP #25
  Xcel Energy, Dairyland Power Cooperative, Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, the City of Rochester

Comments I filed Monday (what a week, it’s a hat trick — these Comments due Monday, Maple River-Cuyuna 345kV on Tuesday, and “Gopher to Badger” on Wednesday.

There’s so much going on at the “North Rochester” substation, and in addition to the just dropped “Gopher to Badger” transmission line, there’s the just

And don’t forget this one, I think I did! This is a little bitty line, well DOUBLE CIRCUIT 345kV, jumping across Hwy. 52 from the “North Rochester” substation to a data center proposed for Pine Island, one that Pine Island really wants, and seems to want to give away perks to a massive high revenue data center owner/operator. WTAF? They need subsidies why??? This is classic example of a City acting against interest. It’s not like other communities are welcoming data centers, why give it to them? How much water and from where? How much electricity, and from where? Oh, well, we may know from where:

It’s here, 2nd HUGE transmission line application to drop this week, FIFTH since the beginning of the year, FIFTH in the last 30 days! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Here’s the Application – I recommend starting off with the Application, then Appendix D, Xcel Energy Revenue Requirement and Appendix E, Planning Analysis (hey, App E is ONLY 400+ pages!!!):