08/27/2026
Coverage from the La Crosse tribune on the proposed 765 kV BECI Line. See text of the article below.
COMMUNITY RAISES CONCERNS ON 'TRAVESTY' OF PROPOSED DRIFTLESS REGION TRANSMISSION LINES
Olivia Mapes | River Valley Media Group
The parking lot outside the sleepy community center of G**s Mills was completely full as people came to the open house to learn more about a proposed transmission line, BECI, which could cut through the Driftless Region.
A group called No 765 Line has formed opposing the powerline, and members stood outside the G**s Mills Community Center on Tuesday evening.
Some were holding petitions and selling shirts that said “200 miles of greed” while others were simply talking to their neighbors about their worries.
Jay McCloskey first reached out to his neighbors after finding out about the line in October. The group quickly started organizing and became a 501(c)(3) in April.
McCloskey, the chairman of the organization, said he is concerned about the project’s timeframe.
The organization which will be building BECI, Midcontinent Grid Solutions, put in a bid to work on it last year. Currently, it is holding open houses for community input and will present its plan to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission early next year, according to Brian Radday, director of community engagement with MGS.
The timeframe gives residents only seven months to learn about the project and provide input. McCloskey said projects like these normally have a three-year period of public input.
Many people at the open house said they were concerned about the environmental impacts and felt their questions weren’t being answered.
Janet Johnson, a horse farmer in the area, said there was a lot of anger in the room, and she saw people walking around shaking their heads.
Johnson also said that not all her neighbors had received a notice about the line, while some only found out about it last week.
“It’s like being kicked in the gut,” Johnson said.
Property value in the area has already gone down and is estimated to reduce in value 10-45%, Johnson said.
The proposed line has also put other projects on halt because the people don’t know exactly where the transmission line will go. For example, Johnson said one of her neighbors was going to build a shed, but didn’t want to build it in case the transmission line was going to go through it or be too close to it.
The No 765 Line group estimated that 130,000 people in the area will going to be affected by having a transmission line on their property.
Rikardo Jahnke, a farmer in the area, said the line could potentially go less than a mile south of his farm.
Jahnke, who also loves to go bird watching, said he is worried about the line's impacts on birds. The proposed project will be approximately 175 feet high making it far above the treeline.
The Driftless is part of the Mississippi Flyway where over 300 species of birds fly through during their migration.
“It’s a travesty that they chose the Driftless because the Driftless is a wide area, some even internationally unique and precious ecological dwelling known for its beauty,” Jahnke said.
Rob Danielson, a member of No 765 Line, agreed with him.
“Every geography, every curve, every habitat has been around in formative stages for 400 million years,” Danielson said. “We all understand that we are blessed with this resource that will never ever be possible to recreate. This kind of damage is unparalleled.”
Danielson joked this wasn’t his first rodeo because transmission lines had almost gone through his property twice before, but he was able to get developers not to put them in. The previous lines ended up going alongside the interstate.
The line is being planned in response to projections from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which say that peak load could rise to as much as 49.2%.
Danielson said MISO has had similar projections in the past, but the needs never historically materialized. Energy use in Wisconsin has actually fallen in the past 20 years.
“Does anyone know what’s happening in the future?” Danielson asked. “You could just as easily project that you are going to be rich in the next five years.”
Radday said the MISO projection is used to prevent system failure for the electric grid, especially as extreme weather becomes more frequent.
“There’s no inch of land on the continent of the United States that should be sacrificed for a transmission line that’s not needed,” Danielson said.
Tennille Osthoff, the vice chairman of No 765 Line, said she is worried the lines are being built to make room for data centers.
Currently, there are 53 data centers in Wisconsin, according to Data Center Map, which has been tracking facilities since 2007.
The concern also isn’t just for the BECI transmission line, but for lines that could be built off of what MGS calls a “backbone” of infrastructure.
“Most places they put these lines in, they have multiple of them,” Osthoff said. “Once this massive utility corridor is built then that’s exactly where they’re going to look to build.”
Radday said another line could come in after BECI is completed, but that wasn’t a part of his project.
Midcontinent Grid Solutions has been hosting informational open houses so communities can learn more about the transmission line that is planned to go through the Driftless. A community group, No 765 Line, has organized to ring the alarm bell on concerns on environmental and economic impacts from the potential line. ⤵️ Find a link to the story in the comments.
