ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative are proceeding with the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line Project, having a revised projected in-service date of September 27, 2024, excluding any future legal orders to delay the project.
The project will improve the reliability and flexibility of the region’s transmission system, and support the interconnection of lower-cost, clean, renewable generation across the Upper Midwest.
The completed land exchange between the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative will help ITC Midwest to finish 1.1 miles of the project located near the Mississippi River in Iowa as well as the area across the Mississippi River to Wisconsin.
ITC Midwest started construction on the acquired land and the work is subject to terms and conditions set by the USFWS and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Initially, it involved surveying and staking followed by vegetation clearing and matting. Construction outside of the area will also continue, as needed, to support energization of the line.
The land exchange will provide significant net benefits to the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (Refuge) upon completion of the project.
The construction plan includes the removal of the current transmission lines and structures through the Refuge and across the Mississippi River. The net impact of these shifts in infrastructure will reduce the electric transmission footprint in the Refuge and replace existing structures with low-profile structures using an avian-friendly design.
The project has not only been reviewed and approved by multiple state and federal agencies but has also been the subject of multiple state and federal lawsuits, ultimately been on the prevailing side in prior litigation. More delays in completion will increase the cost burdens and interrupt the environmental benefits of the project.
Several of the same opponents currently challenging the USFWS land exchange have filed multiple lawsuits in federal and state courts trying to stop construction of the project. The co-owner utilities have navigated numerous injunctions, won appeals before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and received several favorable opinions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
