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mar the pristine scenery.
• Northern States Power Company, Dairyland Power Cooperative and WPPI Energy have been working to win the Public Service Commission's approval for the joint project since 2008. They maintain the line will help meet rising demand for power in western Wisconsin. The three-person Public Service Commission unanimously approved the line during a meeting Thursday morning in Madison.
• "The applicants ... put forward solid evidence demonstrating the regional benefits of this

project," PSC Chairman Phil Montgomery said in a statement.
• The 345-kilovolt line will be one segment of a $2 billion transmission project, dubbed CapX2020, involving nearly a dozen utilities. The project is designed to spread power across Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and the Dakotas. The plans the PSC approved call for the Wisconsin line to connect to another segment out of Rochester, Minn., at the Mississippi River at Alma. The line would run south along the Mississippi, cut east to Galesville and then turn south again before ending at a new substation just west of Holmen.
• "We're pleased the Public Service Commission supported the project need," said Deb Mirasola, a spokeswoman for Dairyland Power Cooperative. "This line will help address reliability goals for members of our cooperative as well as address goals of transporting renewable energy from the west."
• Wisconsin energy consumers could see their bills increase by nearly $2 a month as the utilities build out the CapX2020 project.
• Customers who purchase power from Xcel Energy, the parent company for

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