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PSC study: ATC Power Line
Threatens Wildlife Sanctuary
News Release 5/31/2006
CONTACT: Roger Packard, (608) 263-3967, rpackard@uwalumni.com
David Musolf, (608) 265-4562, dmusolf@uwalumni.com
An environmental assessment released by the Public
Service Commission of
Wisconsin finds that a power line proposed by American Transmission
Company
(ATC) "would have negative impacts on the existence and overall
aesthetics and
conservation value" of Madison Audubon Society's Faville Grove
Sanctuary north
of Lake Mills. The study further finds that ATC's proposed route
"is not
compatible with DNR's long term conservation planning for the area."
ATC's proposal to build a 138 kV power line between
Waterloo and Jefferson is
one of several controversial projects in southern Wisconsin. The
PSC report
concludes that "the presence of a new transmission line is
inconsistent with
the efforts of many people involved in ecological restoration of
the area, as
well as the goals and objectives of federal and state programs that
have
contributed substantial monies for conservation and restoration
activities in
the Faville Grove Project Area. The value of this area lies not
only in the
wildlife and plant habitat and human/nature connections that it
provides, but
also in the views that allow visitors to experience what the glaciated
part of
southeastern Wisconsin looked like pre-settlement."
The Waterloo to Jefferson route spurred nearly
200 public comments to the PSC
opposing the route that would bisect the wildlife sanctuary. Madison
Audubon
established the Faville Grove Sanctuary in 1997, and is working
with local
landowners and community volunteers to preserve and restore prairie,
wetland,
savanna, and woodland habitat in the ecologically diverse, glaciated
area north
of Lake Mills. In the 1930's and '40's, Faville Grove served as
an outdoor
laboratory where conservationist Aldo Leopold developed pioneering
land
management techniques and honed his concept of a land ethic. The
sanctuary was
developed through cooperative agreements between Madison Audubon
and government
agencies with a mix of public and private funding.
"I can't imagine that the PSC would allow
a private corporation to compromise
the efforts of so many people in restoring the natural landscape
of this area,"
said Roger Packard, volunteer co-manager of the sanctuary. "Both
DNR and the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have determined that the area is
significant and
deserves protection, and yet the measures that ATC has proposed
to safeguard
the sanctuary are totally inadequate," Packard added. "It
is time for the PSC
to say 'no' to ATC." During the PSC hearings, the Department
of Natural
Resources took the position that ATC's proposed route is inconsistent
with the
habitat restoration efforts in the area. ATC proposed an alternate
route that
would avoid the sanctuary. The PSC can order ATC to use this alternate
route or
other possible routes instead. A decision in the case is due by
August 21.
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