SUGAR CREEK — People in Sugar Creek packed into their town hall to share their frustrations with a planned high-voltage power line. Town officials say they are just as upset and claim they learned about the project after residents did.
The company Midcontinent Grid Solutions sent letters to several Sugar Creek property owners about the BECI Project, a 190-mile, 765-kilovolt power line they hope to develop between Illinois and western Wisconsin through a substation in Sugar Creek.
Rachel Catlett received the letter because the proposed power line could run right through part of her property.
"In the past week, it's been like drinking the ocean trying to find as much information as we can," Catlett said.
According to the company's website, the BECI Project "will strengthen Wisconsin's electric grid by connecting southern Wisconsin to one of the strongest parts of the interstate transmission system."
Sugar Creek town chairman Dave Robers said the BECI Project plans caught him and the local government by surprise.
"They got notices about their land having the poles on it before we even heard about it from the company," Robers said.
The town board decided to consider a resolution affirming their opposition against the BECI Project on Monday night.
Catlett was the only public speaker in the packed room.
"This is an ask to stand with every land owner already living with the uncertainty this project has created," Catlett said to the town board.
The board unanimously approved the resolution against the power line project.
"People think we're benefiting out of this, but we are not," Robers said. "It's our spot to try and keep this township a farming township and try and keep as much agricultural land as we can."
Catlett is continuing the conversation with an event on her farm Sunday afternoon.
"We can do this, our voice does mean something," Catlett said. "I think about my dad. He died in his bed looking out over the farm, and I feel so bad that it might go away."
Midcontinent Grid Solutions is hosting their own open house about the BECI Project. Their event is on August 27 at Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan from 10am to 1pm.
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