Legalectric

Busy day today. We’ve had the final round of Completeness Comments on both the Gopher to Badger and Power on Midwest web of 765kV transmission across southern Minnesota. Really,all the way across southern Minnesota. On the western border, it runs through South Dakota from Big Stone coal plant down to Brookings, near Sioux Falls, and then across through Lakefield Junction over to Pleasant Valley… then for some reason up to North Rochester sub just north of Pine Island (with a 345 kV line also running that way, and up to Hampton, WTAF?) and then from North Rochester substation down to the southeast to Marion, then to the southwest (?) back to Pleasant Valley, and from their straight across following Dairyland’s 161kV line to the Mississippi and beyond to the Columbia substation near Portage, Wisconsin. That’s a LOT of 765kV transmission line:

Filed by North Route Group and NO765MN in both dockets – Gopher to Badger CN-25-121 and Power on Midwest CN-25-117. WHY? Because it’s all connected:

Filed by Applicants in both dockets:

Filed by Commerce-DER in both dockets:

Last and least, filed by Liuna – least because how off can ya get??:

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:

The Maple River-Cuyuna 345kV transmission line, that’s the orange one on this map above.

First the Initial Comments:

And then Reply Comments:

Applicants’ filed their Reply Comments:

And we filed the Andersen Comments:

And that’s it!

So on to tomorrow’s Reply Comments on the Gopher-Badger 765kV transmission line!

Whew, last one for this week, CN-25-117 “Power on Midwest” on Monday, CN-25-109 “Maple River-Cuyuna” yesterday, and CN-25-121 “Gopher to Badger” and “Maribell” today. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I am so glad that the Iron Range to Arrowhead scoping meetings and comment deadline was cancelled and isn’t due tomorrow.

Here’s the Comment for North Route Group and NO765MN:

p.s. Parking MISO Schedule 26A for good measure — need to keep it available for reference:

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!