Great River Energy Looks To Rebuild St. Joseph Transmission Line

(KNSI) – This story originally ran on November 29th.

Great River Energy is holding two public meetings, one virtual and one in-person at the Millstream Park Meeting Facility, starting tonight.

Information for the web meeting is below.

Date: Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022 Time: 6 p.m.

WebEx (Webinar) Link: https://minnesota.webex.com/minnesota/j.php?MTID=m45c5e64eefd06c6691543990e10fd37b

Webinar Number: 2497 368 5485

Webinar Password: jRTt3mku5C3 (57883658 from phones)

The in-person gathering is the following day at 6:00 p.m. Millstream Park is located at 725 County Road 75 W., St. Joseph, Minnesota 56374.

The utility is looking to rebuild over two miles of transmission lines near St. Joseph. The project would entail pulling down the current 69 kilovolt line, replacing it with an overhead 115 kilovolt line instead. Distribution lines owned by Stearns Electric Association and Xcel Energy would be buried underground.

The remaining overhead line would run from the West St. Cloud Substation, traveling east on Ridgewood Road before turning north at 73rd Avenue and winding west along Mullen Road North to the Le Sauk Substation. The project would also add 170 feet of line to connect to a new switch.

Public comments can be submitted online, by email, or regular mail through December 30th. They should focus on four questions:

What potential human and environmental impacts of the proposed project should be considered in the environmental assessment?

Are there any methods to minimize, mitigate or avoid potential impacts of the proposed project that should be considered in the environmental assessment?

Are there any alternative routes or route segments that should be considered to address potential impacts associated with the proposed project?

Are there any unique characteristics of the proposed route or the project that should be considered?

Email comments to jamie.macalister@state.mn.us. The mailing address is:

Jamie MacAlister
Minnesota Department of Commerce
85 Seventh Place E., Suite 280, St. Paul, MN 55101

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