East Bethel council denies transmission line application
by Eric Hagen
Staff Writer
Great River Energy (GRE) cannot place a new 69 kilovolt (kV) transmission line along its desired route through East Bethel. The East Bethel City Council clearly stated this message by unanimously denying the company’s application during a June 22 council meeting.
Great River Energy wanted to build Route A which would be 10.4-miles long, but only require 7.4 miles of additional transmission line because there is three miles of existing line south of the Athens Substation.
GRE spokesperson Lori Buffington said this transmission line project continues to be a priority and that options are being explored. Buffington said GRE would not be making an application for the route the city preferred.
GRE officials have previously said a new transmission line between a substation in Athens Township and Linwood Township is needed to provide more electrical capacity to the region and to provide a back-up power source. The city-hired consultant Larry Schedin of LLS Resources, LLC in Minneapolis confirmed that this Athens-Martin Lake line is a cost-effective solution as opposed to repairing or replacing three other 69 kV transmission lines.
However, the city and GRE strongly disagree over where the new 69 kV transmission line should travel between these two substations. The city said its proposal impacts a lower population density and fewer environmentally-sensitive areas. GRE argued that the route suggested by the city is longer, more expensive and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources raised no major objections to Route A.
An East Bethel organized work group and a hired consultant came up with Route I-1. It would be 13.3-miles long, but only require 11.3-miles of new transmission line because there is two miles of existing lines north and east of the Athens Substation.
“We have to build the line somewhere and the less line we build, the lower the overall impact to people and the environment,” said Peter Schaub, GRE senior field representative.
Councilmember Robert DeRoche Jr. said somebody has to watch out for the people and the environment and the difficulty for GRE of constructing one transmission line over another should have no impact on its decision of which route to build.
“If GRE’s thought is, ‘we can save some money if we just do it this way,’ I think that’s wrong,” DeRoche said.
Mayor Richard Lawrence said GRE is completely ignoring the part of East Bethel where growth is anticipated to occur. This would be the area around Highway 65 and Viking Boulevard where the city’s first phase of its sewer and water project is planned for.
GRE’s planning engineer Tim Mickelson says this project would benefit the whole city of East Bethel as well as the region. Mickelson said this project would provide support to and enable growth of the principal substations that serve East Bethel. He said without this project, businesses and homes in all of East Bethel will be at risk of experiencing low voltage which can cause damage to the motors of household appliances and to very costly electric system equipment. The low voltage concerns would lead to the electrical company having to do rolling blackouts at some points.
Route A vs. Route I-1
GRE’s proposed Route A is a 10.4-mile route that would begin at Athens Substation in Athens Township, head south for three miles along an existing 69 kV line and then eventually cut over to Anoka County Road 26 (229th Avenue). Once in Linwood Township, the line would briefly head south on Typo Creek Drive before getting to the Martin Lake substation.
Route I-1 would be 13.3 miles long. From Athens Substation, it would go north one mile and east one mile to utilize two miles of an existing 69 kV transmission line. The new line would pick up heading east on Isanti County Road 9 (269th Avenue) before heading south on Durant Street into East Bethel. The line would then follow Fawn Lake Drive into Linwood Township. When the line meets Typo Creek Drive, it would head south to the Martin Lake substation.
The city-hired consultant Schedin concluded that Route A was the best route if the transmission line had to impact more of East Bethel. Following a request from the city to look at routes outside East Bethel, Schedin came up with Route I-1.
GRE would have to work with many more private landowners on Route I-1. According to Schaub, Route A requires 7.4-miles of new transmission line when subtracting the existing three-mile line that would be utilized in Athens Township next to the substation. Of this 7.4-miles, 3.3-miles would be on the southern border of the Cedar Creek publicly-owned property. This leaves 4.1-miles of privately owned land for GRE to get easements on.
In comparison, GRE would need to build 11.3-miles of new line for Route I-1 when subtracting the two miles of existing transmission line north and east of the Athens substation. All 11.3-miles is privately-owned land.
On the other hand, City Administrator Jack Davis said the council, planning and zoning commission and the work group pointed out that Route I-1 affects lesser densely populated areas.
Councilmember Heidi Moegerle said when she evaluated the approximately 15 routes that GRE explored, Route A did not rank in her top five when she look at how the route would impact East Bethel.
GRE’s proposed route would have impacted many residents on a one-mile segment of Anoka County Road 26, Councilmember Bill Boyer pointed out.
Schaub said there was nothing unique or special about this residential property other than it is owned by the people who live there.
“Everybody feels their property is unique and special,” Schaub said. “We understand that and acknowledge that, but the truth is we have to put the line somewhere if we’re going to build it.”
The 3.3-miles of transmission line on the Cedar Creek property under GRE’s Route A proposal was another bone of contention for the city. Boyer said the presence of the 69 kV transmission lines would impact the oak savannah area of Cedar Creek, which is a more rare ecosystem in Minnesota and the lines would impact people’s nature experience as they walk or bike along a trail that could someday travel on the south side of the Cedar Creek property.
Davis said Route A would involve clear cutting 8.5-acres of trees in East Bethel while only 1.8-acres of trees would be lost in the city if Route I-1 was built. Schaub said for the overall routes, Route A would lead to 14 acres of trees being cleared while Route I-1 would lead to 20 acres being cut down. Boyer does not believe this is accurate.
Schaub said Jeff Corney, the managing director of Cedar Creek, said the university would work with GRE if Route A was chosen and only impacted the southern boundary of the reserve area. However, Corney sent a June 21 letter to the city stating it would stand by the council’s decision should it choose to oppose GRE’s application for Route A.
Route I-1 utilizes more of Typo Creek Drive in Linwood Township where GRE said there could be some historical or archeological sites. Davis said GRE has not provided any evidence to show these features exist.
Eric Hagen is at eric.hagen@ecm-inc.com
Kudos to the City Council on this vote. Glad to see they didn’t cave in to GRE demands.