Options narrowed for PowerOn Project
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SHERBURN - PowerOn Midwest returned for another open house Thursday at the Fox Lake Event Center in Sherburn, as feedback from previous meetings led to one of the route options being removed.
The project seeks to develop a stretch of 765-kV lines along eastern South Dakota, Southern Minnesota and the broader region.
While the previous two rounds had events in Fairmont, due to scheduling constraints, a venue could not be found for PowerOn Midwest to return for this third round. An event has been placed at the Jackson County Central High School Gym from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Aug. 11 to replace the Fairmont event.
Previously, three routes were being considered. One would see the lines pass below Fairmont, near or through Dunnell. The second would see lines pass just above Sherburn, Welcome and Fairmont, hugging close to I-90. The third would see it pass above Fairmont, in a nearly straight line between Trimont and Truman.
Now, that middle line, which would have gone through Fairmont along I-90, has been eliminated from consideration. Great River Energy Spokesperson Heather Reinhart said ultimately this route just had too many obstacles to continue with.
"We had cities we were having to go around because you can’t put it right through major infrastructure," she said. "Usually, when there’s an on-off ramp to get to a major city, there’s stores there, gas stations, and hotels, and we have to go around those things. We also ran into some airports and other things along I-90 that we would have to go around."
Along with Fairmont, another major city they would have had to have worked around is Albert Lea. Other major reasons for eliminating this route include the impact it would have on the environment and natural resources, the discovery that it cannot be built along I-90 long enough for the route to be feasible and a higher degree of complexity.
Naturally, Reinhart said the time they have spent since the last meetings in June and the crux of this third wave of meetings is to determine which route they wish to submit for their routing application.
"We have to submit only one route with our application, which will happen in February," she said. "We’re using these meetings to get more feedback and trying to determine which route we should choose, or if there’s another option we should be looking at. Just trying to hone in on it, and we’ll keep continue doing that until we submit our application."
So far in these meetings, Reinhart and Xcel Energy Spokesperson Randy Fordice said feedback has been pretty split between both routes, with neither gaining an edge just yet. With the route they choose, Fordice said they will need to explain why that route is the least impactful on the surrounding areas.
"They need a variety of things," he said. "From environmental impacts, whether that’s proximity to homes or how much we follow a roadway, or field, or section lines, the existing infrastructure. Basically all of the rationale behind it. Agricultural impact mitigation plan is another, how we would work with farmers in the area to mitigate impacts."
In ensuring they can prove they have as little impact as possible, Fordice said these public meetings are crucial.
"We can get a lot of information from public databases and reviewing routes by driving along public roadways," he said. "What we really want to hear from people is how the route options that we’re looking at would affect how people use their property in this area, predominantly agriculture. We want to be able to answer questions about farming practices and impacts. What we want to hear from people is to tell us what we don’t know."
Dozens have attended these meetings, and hundreds of pieces of information have been provided on land across Martin County, from wildlife and environmental impacts and safety concerns to current recreation and planned development.
Across these meetings, the biggest concern Fordice said he has fielded is impacts on southern Minnesota and what the benefits would be. He said this project looks at what power needs are going to be moving forward.
"We’ve heard some people say, 'Power’s been reliable, I don’t think we need it,'" Fordice said. "It’s like, 'Well, yeah, that’s why we look at long-term projections.' One of the reasons people have such reliable power are because of these investments that we’ve made over the previous decades. Now we’re at another time where growth is going to exceed what our current system can handle."
This is projected to be the last run of open houses before a route is chosen. For those who cannot attend any of the meetings in person, a virtual open house is available through Aug. 28 at poweronmidwest.com/events/.