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State won’t review power line

DELAVAN — The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin has denied the city of Delavan’s petition for review of a transmission line project.

The state Tuesday mailed a letter stating the commission would not re-open and review an approval the commission made in July 2007.

City Administrator Joe Salitros on Friday e-mailed a copy of the letter to council members.

The 1.5-mile segment in question runs between the Bristol Substation at 6396 Mound Road and the Delavan Substation at 602 E. Wisconsin St.

American Transmission Co. is working to upgrade the line from 69 to 138 kilovolts, ATC spokeswoman Mary Carpenter said.

The Delavan-Bristol segment is part of a larger project to upgrade a line from the city of Elkhorn to the Rock River in Beloit Township.

The city sought to re-open the case when officials learned that ATC was negotiating easements with landowners. ATC had stated the project did not require additional easements, Salitros said.

Because the segment is longer than a mile, ATC should have indicated it needed additional easements, said Mark Schroeder, special counsel for the city of Delavan. The commission then would have indicated which properties could be included when ATC worked to negotiate easements, Schroeder said.

In a reply to the city’s petition, ATC said it was not seeking additional easements but was renegotiating existing easement contracts with landowners.

In some cases, the negotiations added right of way for the transmission company, Carpenter said. In some cases, negotiations resulted in less land, she said.

An easement is a permanent contract attached to the land title—not the landowner. Right of way refers to the amount of land, meaning an existing easement can be renegotiated to add or remove right of way, Carpenter said.

The public service commission does not regulate easement negotiations, and ATC did not break any rules, according to the commission’s letter to the city.

“There is nothing in the filed materials in this matter indicating that ATC has not met these requirements,” the commission’s letter stated.

Neither Salitros nor Schroeder knew what the next step would be for the city. The council could discuss the issue at its next meeting June 9.

The Bristol-Delavan segment is the last piece of the 35-mile Elkhorn-Rock River upgrade, Carpenter said. ATC estimates the entire project will cost between $25 million and $30 million, Carpenter said.

The rest of the line is running at 138 kilovolts. Construction should be done on the Bristol-Delavan portion by the end of the month, Carpenter said.