MADISON, Wis. — Two proposals for a new 345-kilovolt power transmission line through the Madison metro area will be forwarded to the Public Service Commission, but neither include an underground option.
American Transmission Co. announced on Wednesday that it won’t recommend one plan over the other to state regulators. The controversial Beltline proposal is included in the recommendation, but so is a southern Dane County route that would affect mostly rural areas.
….Critics of the Beltline route â?? including Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum officials and the state Transportation Department, which doesn’t want 345,000 volts of electricity pulsing above or below the heavily-used freeway — asked ATC to put the line underground.