Three conservation groups submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service in opposition to the Cardinal–Hickory Creek power line transmission project’s crossing the Mississippi River.

The RUS took comments until Friday on its Supplemental Environmental Assessmentfor permits for the power line project to go through the Upper Mississippi National Fish & Wildlife Refuge.

Approval is needed to connect the Wisconsin and Iowa halves of the power lineproject, which are completed in Iowa and near completion in Wisconsin. 

The conservation groups called on the RUS to protect public lands and reject the transmission line developers’ proposed land exchange that would result in the construction of up to 20-story towers through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, according to a news release from the conservation groups, according to a news release from the groups.

The route would be moved 6.8 acres west of its original proposed location across the Mississippi to “reduce the impact to the Refuge by reducing the footprint of the transmission line” by about 9.9 acres, according to the draft EIS.

The news release claims that the RUS relied on the developer’s claim that the power line needed to be built through the refuge. The groups claim the RUS failed to explore and evaluate alternatives including non-wires alternatives and alternative routes that won't cross the refuge.

The release claims the plan of American Transmission Co., ITC Midwest and Dairylandplan to run the transmission line through the wildlife refuge violates the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's own regulations and the FWS’ Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the refuge.

“Driftless Area Land Conservancy believes there are better 21st century alternatives to this huge transmission line, including the use of battery storage, clean distributed energy generation, advancing energy efficiencies and small-scale ‘rooftop’ solar,” said Jennifer Filipiak, executive director of the Driftless Area Land Conservancy. “These technologies can provide a brighter future for the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge and for the Driftless region. We’re counting on the federal agencies tasked with stewarding the Refuge to objectively review these alternatives and consider whether the transmission line’s destructive intrusion is compatible with the Refuge’s mandated conservation goals.”

"The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge has been recognized nationally and internationally as having some of the finest and most critically important wildlife habitat in the Midwest and is heavily used annually by large multitudes of a wide variety of outdoor recreational users and there needs to be a full evaluation of the damages that the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line will cause before proceeding,” said KevynQuamme, president of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.

“I am incredibly concerned about the proposed construction of the CHC through the refuge,” said Kerry Beheler, a member of Wisconsin’s GreenFire Science Advisory Council. “The proposed line would have adverse environmental impacts, with significant bird mortality from collisions, habitat destruction, and damage throughout the ecosystem, including to mammals, birds, fish, insects, mussels, and vegetation. The proposed CHC would likely increase indirect mortality effects for all species.”

“Federal agencies ignore environmental protection of one of the few remaining natural ecosystems and attempt to circumvent our legal protections, in order to facilitate construction of a project that is not needed, furthering utility interests over those of the public,” said Chris Klopp of Cross Plains.

No timetable has been set for an RUS decision.