No 765 Line

you

Welcome to our morning show studios here in WRCO and we have a great show lined up for you today as well.

We've been really focusing on the whole 765 kilovolt line issue this week.

with Senator Mark Lyne and Representative Kurtz on Monday.

Yesterday we had Brian Rodehin, Director of Community Engagement for Midcontinent Grid Solutions.

And today we have Janet Johnson of the No 65 line organization.

We have Emil Smith as well.

We'll talk about his involvement.

And Mike Breninger is here from the We Are Neighbors Community Group.

Mike, we'll start with you this morning since you're a veteran of this particular program.

Another hat that you're wearing.

Tell me why you're such a concerned citizen.

It seems that I wear a lot of hats, Phil.

So here's a new one.

We're working on challenging the 765 line.

When I say we, this kind of started out, it was first really made aware of what was going on with the Maribel line, which affects Crawford and Vernon County.

I went to a meeting in Viroqua just to kind of check out what was going on.

I left that meeting and I was thinking, I'm glad that's not going through Richland County.

And then within a couple of weeks, of course, people got little postcards in the mail that were being affected by one of four proposed lines coming through Richland County and started to contact me and said, help, please help.

We don't have an organization in Richland County.

We don't know what to do.

So I brought it to the Southwest Partners Executive Team and said, hey, should we

which we'd be kind of the convening and organizing entity to challenge this for our county and try and work with other counties or regional groups to challenge this line because I mean, people were in great distress.

Their land was, you know, big swaths of land being used in this.

Some of it were very near their buildings.

They're concerned about the value of their land, their health, animal livestock health.

So out of that, we Southwest partners decided to jump into this fray, another thing to do, and really try and help our county, our community to organize themselves and take some affirmative action on this in trying to challenge this.

There's kind of the lanes that have been set up for us to challenge it.

You can write the cards into the company in the different places.

We can contact the PSC, the Public Service Commission, your legislators.

Those are kind of the lanes.

We're also looking for actions outside the lanes.

And that's where Southwest Partners is really pretty good at doing this.

So we've had a few meetings so far in Richland County.

We had our first one on August 31st at the

the Richland Center City Auditorium, which is also the Performing Arts Center.

We had about 300 people show up on that evening.

And since then, we've developed three tiers.

We have these large group meetings mostly to inform people.

The second is we have what we call the core team.

Those are the people who really want to get in, dig in, go forward, lead a group.

And then we have what we call the work groups.

So we've divided

What we need to do in the ten different categories of work groups and people have joined those Work groups like there's a media work group.

There's a legal work group There's a government contact work group and so forth and so people have gotten involved in various levels So Richland County is now well on the way other counties are doing things a little differently But this is the way we're doing it.

So once a month we have these these larger gatherings and

and try and inform everybody what's going on and encourage them to be involved in the core team or the work groups.

But right now the work of how we're opposing this is taking place in the work groups and then reporting back to the core team.

We've already got a few efforts that we're moving forward on.

Some I can talk about and some are a little bit, they're outside the lane, so we're not quite making them public yet.

But you know, there's

There's a lot of ways to attack this.

And I believe that the Midwest Grid Solutions, MGS, who is kind of representing this line coming through, it's called the Becky Line, coming through Richland County and other counties, they have a specific plan that they're trying to enact.

And when you ask them a question, they've got specific answers.

But most of the time those answers are not really answering a lot of the deeper questions that we've got.

So we we have to we have to go a little deeper on this and challenge what's happening.

So here I am.

Here I am trying to affect a positive outcome for our county.

And I'm also trying to help people work through the deep distress that I mean, there's some

Older people I don't want to get too carried away with the term older because you know, what is older?

Yeah, that's right

So people that, you know, there's a lot, there's retired people that are out there.

They've got 20 acres and property and they get this card and it shows the line coming right through their property.

They're like, I'm dying.

What can I, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if we see some serious health issues just coming out of the stress from what's going on in people's lives right now.

Cause everyone I've talked to that has gotten one of these, these postcards and said the lines coming through, maybe coming through your property.

Uh, they're in deep distress about it.

They're, they're not knowing what to do.

They're trying to do anything they can.

And so it's, this is not just, uh, you know, hopefully, uh, benign power line coming through.

It's, it's destroying people's property and their lives.

So it's, it's a significant thing.

And that's one of the big reasons we decided to get involved.

They've ever seen a topic mic in the community that, uh,

brings people together, Democrat, Republican, Catholic, Protestant.

I mean, everybody is in agreement.

I observed this when we had the first big large group meeting at the city auditorium.

You know, we had the people there, and I knew that there were people from

political both sides of the aisle ideological religious i mean all across the spectrum in fact after the gathering one guy came up to me and said there's a lot of things i don't agree with you on but this is one thing i do so thank you for getting involved in it so i i mean there's probably people in favor of this out there somewhere but i haven't seen or heard them yet maybe they're just scared to to raise their hand and open their mouths i'm not sure but

I couldn't identify anyone at any of the meetings we've had so far that is actually pro bringing the 765 line through.

And I'm very pleased that it goes across the political spectrum, Democrat, Republican.

They're all saying this is not for us.

Right.

Janet Johnson is here.

Janet, you contacted me early in the year about a morning show with retired professor Rob Danielson.

And this was the first that I had ever heard of this.

We had him on.

And as Mike said, it was kind of maybe skirting Richland County that time.

I didn't get any response from the show.

But when he came back in June or July, there was just this, what is going on?

You know, I mean, people kind of had heard about it by then and gotten their little cards in the mail.

But

you know, until you brought it to my attention, I was not aware of it, uh, at that time.

Right.

Yeah.

I'm, I have strong ties in Viroqua.

Um, and so I, I follow some of the Viroqua Facebook pages and I saw this post that was talking about the seven, six, five line and where they would go.

And I realized that these are the same.

This is the same line that goes through my backyard.

And I thought, wait a minute.

What's going on here?

And so I attended one of the meetings up at the Eagles Club in Verroqua, and this was late January, early February.

And I was just astounded that something like this could be going through, and nobody knew about it.

Nobody in Richland Center knew about it.

And so my goal from that point on was to inform Richland County of what is coming.

So that's how I kind of got involved in it.

And since then, I think we've all learned a little bit about it, but it's still cloudy and hazy.

I keep thinking I'm going to wake up in the morning and I'm going to understand what's going on.

And it's still just clear as mud.

You get some answers, but there are so many things on so many levels that don't make sense.

And it's just so violating.

to think that a company could come through and take your land.

And so it's very personal.

And it's very personal to a lot of people.

And now that the postcards came out, now everybody in Richland County knows about it.

But until then, we were trying to inform

with our landowner meetings.

We were trying to inform the people on the existing lines because that is a state law that that's where they're supposed to go.

So we went through the county GIS maps and found names and addresses and invited people to meetings.

We had one in Boaz and we had one at the Phoenix Center to try and form

people, what was happening and what was going down.

And we were working our way towards Salk County when they came out with the postcards and kind of like everything hit the fan at that point.

Like all of a sudden, all of Wisconsin or all of Southern Wisconsin, you know, knows about it.

And so it's, it's just been kind of a whirlwind since then.

Before I forget to ask you, we've had calls about the signs that no 76, no 765 kilowatt lines.

Are they still available,

Janet?

They are.

I don't know.

They are.

They are.

I know there was a backlog of them for quite a while, but they're out there now, and people have them.

And we have it on our website.

The artwork, so you can order them yourself if you want to.

And I know some of the local groups have ordered some, so there are some in Richland Center.

Just to mention, Christie Adson at Christie's Sunnyside Bakery.

has them for sale.

She says she's selling them like hotcakes.

Pun intended,

I guess.

That's right.

Emil Smith, good morning.

Good to have you in the studio.

Tell us a little about yourself and how you found your way to Richland

Center

Studios.

Wow.

Well, you know, the long story is longer than Janet's as far as where we started in this with the Maribel line.

We became aware purely by accident, by a survey that was issued and with very curious wording, like would you be likely to

be against this or more or less likely to vigorously oppose.

And so I took notice of the wording of the survey and was shocked to figure out that they were actually taking a survey to run the line from, uh, Marion, Minnesota to Bell center, which is their, uh, Maribel line.

Uh, they're asking for an awful lot here and it is not a done deal.

You know, we listened to what Brian had to say yesterday on your program and our responses from people within our group, which is now hundreds of people at least, is that what Brian had to say yesterday was clearly regurgitated, clearly practiced.

A response from folks that reached out to us afterwards was discussed and a few people just wanted to throw up.

I hope, can I say that on the radio?

Um, he mentions Brian mentions yesterday, uh, 17 times, uh, they want to minimize impact.

And, um, we would be more in agreement with him if we just understood their plans better.

And we've heard that again and again at meetings.

If you just understood this plan better, um, and I, I really think that's a, the recipe for lubrication before a suppository.

Can I say that on the radio?

Well, you just, I just did, you know, um,

No question that we can ask is going to change MISO's mind for this plan or MGS's plan or Dairyland's plan.

Do we really have a seat at the table is what got me involved?

This started from a very small origin to people than two more than two more.

Then a dozen then Janet came in and then of course Mike as as Richland Center started to recognize that Becky on top of Marybell or Becky an extension of Marybell and down to the Illinois line

made it go from two counties in Wisconsin to 10 counties in Wisconsin.

So our no765line.org is offering people information.

We are not telling anybody what to do.

We are not giving legal advice.

We are making it easy for people to understand how they can partake in this process.

And with so many layers and so many players, it's difficult.

I mean, we can say docket number this,

or fill out this form button unless we help people make it easier for them.

Offer the forms, offer the paperwork.

I see Mike came with plenty of paperwork today that helps people understand what's going on.

We are here to educate the public.

uh and help them participate in this process if we truly do have a seat at the table uh you know we're not here to offer alternatives either you know part of the rules in the state say well you kind of got to offer alternatives no no no we don't have to offer an alternative for a line that's illegitimate in the first place

we don't need to offer any alternatives so you know people say why don't they bury it hey there's serious engineering difficulties for burying this stuff there's serious engineering difficulties enough just hanging it in the air and i think regular lay people kind of get that feeling but asking lay people to respond to this especially in the

utterly ridiculous time period that they're asking us to learn these languages, learn these processes.

I mean, multiple languages, languages of transmission lines, legal language with the PSC of Wisconsin, legal language with the PUC of Minnesota.

What are the laws?

What is eminent domain and how has it changed over the years?

And these are questions that

Brian can't answer.

He won't answer.

He shouldn't answer.

So there's clearly a directed way to make the public feel like they're out of this.

It's over.

It ain't over.

And I can't stress enough that we're here to help people participate.

No765Line.org has an amazing website.

It's a go-to interactive.

You can buy signs over our website and go to

the meat locker or the deli or the bakery and Richland Center and pick up your signs after you've ordered them online.

We have made it easy for people in the whole 10 counties stretch to print their own signs if that's better, stronger, faster.

Go for it.

It's a terrible look for Mirabelle and Becky.

Dairyland that has been polishing their look for years looks terrible.

for this to to assume that people are just going to jump right on board and allow this to come plowing through their yards is just insane.

The physics changes when you get over 345 kilovolts, it becomes far more dangerous.

It becomes far more reactive to the environment in so many ways.

How do you expect late people to really understand any of that even ask?

relevant questions.

Um, as if all we need to do is understand it better to accept this monstrosity.

Um, uh, that spokesperson yesterday is newer to this issue in Richland County than we are to this issue between Minnesota Crawford, Vernon and on, on entry.

You know, we, we have been studying this.

Uh, we know what the laws say we know where, you know,

Some of the claims that some folks are making are unsubstantiated in scientific study.

They are unsubstantiated.

Even MISO as an organization says, hey, some of these things are, you know, we're assuming that they're going to be like this, but studies say no.

It's going to be less or it's not going to be that great.

and and so the proposition that all of this is good for them you know they're guaranteed rate of return.

permanent destruction of miles of habitat.

You know, maybe someday these towers will come down, but the concrete piers will still be in the ground forever.

And I think there's great resentment from people who have been stored in their lands and improving their lands and working for generations, decades, a new investment based on retirees coming in and even young people coming back.

And we want young people to come back.

Oh, I can't wait to come back and

look at the high lines.

You know, that's not what's being said here.

People are changing their minds.

It's already altering our economy.

Just the suggestion of this is altering potential deals, potential legacies.

So for my side to step in and say, oh, you know, this isn't going to be a really big deal, MSG, you know, or MGS, why

you know, why make this big deal?

Well, it's a big deal for those of us who spent decades of our lives improving our properties and have chosen these views on purpose.

Furthermore, there has been, they prove it to us that this will work, prove it to us that this is necessary.

So far, that proof is not in the pudding.

It is just not there.

We use less power as a state now.

2.9% less power than we did in 2005.

Do data centers throw a wrench in this work?

So yeah, maybe, but when we started this, we didn't even want to talk about data centers.

This is strictly about offering us transmission lines through the state to the border of Illinois.

But then we get mixed messages even from Scenic Rivers Energy Co-op that says quite clearly,

This new power will be used for data centers that include AI and digital currency.

Now, I get that as a business person and sharing this forum with other business people.

Hey, we likes us some file cabinets in the cloud and we like AI.

It can be helpful.

It does have a purpose from a small business and a big business standpoint.

These can be useful technologies, but at what cost Wisconsinites really?

We're going to do this to our countryside in order to have a library in our living room or whatever it equates to, I guess.

Line growers have known far longer than they admit that these data centers are on the horizon.

And to me, what they're offering us is high lines on the horizon.

It will be our horizon.

When we look out the window, we're going to see these for miles.

So the sphere of influence of these towers goes far further than what's being admitted, whether it's electromagnetic fields, light at night, noise at all times, but especially during weather events or where we get foggy skies and high humidity.

Then the noise levels, I just think people can't even imagine that.

How can you even ask a question of something you can't imagine?

will have those kinds of impacts.

It just goes much further into the countryside than is being advertised here.

We also consider running this type of electricity antiquated

But newly necessary, if you're going to insist on investing in 4,000 acres of solar panels and in hundreds of wind turbines in rural play Dakotas and in rural Minnesota, well, yeah, you develop that kind of power in those rural areas.

You got to pipe it somewhere.

And this is how it gets piped.

This is the most efficient way to run this power.

So when when we look at what is Wisconsin's consumer driven demand of community solar.

make it easier for me to put solar on my roof.

Whether it's my business roof, my home roof, my ag roof, that hasn't even, that's hardly started in Wisconsin.

And part of it is because these big companies haven't planned for that.

They've planned for something entirely different and they haven't really let people know, I know we're not interested in community solar.

We hear complaints from our co-op that community solar won't be paying its fair share for the lines will.

How about asking for it and making this happen and certainly it's been incentivized so much in Minnesota that now there's zones in Minnesota that have so much solar.

They don't want to add anymore and so you know but the the efficiency for them is very high now there.

It's so incentivized, people are covering farm fields with solar panels.

That was never part of the deal.

I mean, that's been objected to for decades.

Don't do that.

So we understand the base load issues.

We understand peak load issues.

So when we have someone like a politician step in front of us and say, do you like it when the lights go on, when you flick that switch, that's patronizing crap.

Of course we do.

We love our frozen foods and our efficiencies.

So to almost step in front of a crowd and threaten us as if this doesn't happen, our lights are going to go out?

I don't think so.

And I think it's rude.

And I think it's rude to ask people who have invested their life savings, their lifetimes, generational lifetimes in properties to be legacyed.

And it's just rude to expect us to give those things up for a monopolistic profit that is guaranteed for these guys.

So, you know, to me, they're throwing AI spaghetti at the wall and they're trying to get away with it.

They're not backing up anything that they've said with real hard facts that we see in studies that say, no, no, it's not exactly like what you guys are saying.

You're really polishing that turd.

Can I say that on the radio?

And it really it ends up being very, very unnecessary.

We just there is no necessity for this.

There is no necessity for us offering an alternative.

Yeah, we can come back to asking for for community solar and applied solar for homes.

And you know, we know that there's really no off ramp for the power they're suggesting in Wisconsin.

You know, at first and in that very first survey, this is the spring of 2025 when I ran across this, would you feel better about this if you knew that it was going to power farms in near Richland County?

And the fact of the matter, it's not what this is for.

And so we've gotten admittances later, the goalposts are moving, the whole story seems to be moving.

And the fear mongering that's happening, the patronizing demeanor,

we

don't appreciate it.

uh you know um someone suggested that it's kind of our fault for kind of being hippies which makes me laugh because i'm not hippie but you know whatever um that that because we've been asking for green power this is what we get and now you're just going to have to wear this power line like a necklace for the rest of your life it ain't we don't um it's just not like that i think that

People in general, and as Mike has said, a lot of people thoroughly reject the political one-upsmanship that's taking place right now.

The politicization of these issues is unnecessary.

You know, for a while I stumped that this is a nonpartisan apolitical issue.

Charlie Barron's makes a joke about it being the most bipartisan thing since beer in Wisconsin.

And I'm starting to see why he's saying that it will take great cooperation, great coordination.

We're, you know, at no 765 line.org, we are making it possible for

every county that's being affected right now to coordinate, come together as a single voice.

That's what we're looking for.

We've made a central base of information.

We have county liaisons that can direct people from different parts of the state to someone close to them who can offer them signs, offer them information, make it easier for them to understand

how it exactly may affect their parcel numbers, their properties, things like that.

The power that they're talking about pumping through here is based on a forecast, not a track record.

MISO has been making forecasts for decades that have been way higher than anything that's actually been needed.

And by their own documents, you know, they're

the industry monitors within their own groups, within MISO's own groups disagree with MISO's claims of the calculated cost benefit.

I'll just keep it as simple as that.

They also say that if these lines aren't built, Wisconsin will make up for it.

the 22.8 gigawatts of generation can get built closer to home, should get built closer to home.

If we build these systems closer to home, there's just no need for these monster transmission lines.

The reason that they're necessary is because the power is in Minnesota where it's been incentivized and in the Dakotas.

So do we have to bear the burden, carry the weight of

crazy private investment.

I don't really think so.

So prove it, myso, prove it, MGS, prove it, convince us.

Put it on your website.

Name the studies that show you the line is needed.

Right now, you don't really have any data there.

So I could go on, but I should let someone else go on.

There are there are so many layers and so many players.

And we have been told so many mixed messages or no message at all, even to direct questions.

So when we started this, we need to let people know that verbal communication with these folks means zero.

There is zero legal ramifications to them telling you something that ain't.

However, if you put your questions in writing, you can ask for a response in writing and actually ask for it by a particular date.

And if you don't get that response or a response that's satisfactory, you have reason to file a complaint.

But if you don't say anything, if you don't write anything, if you don't make these requests, you don't have a seat at the table anymore.

You've basically given that up.

So I also want to let a lot of people talk about the potential health effects of these high voltages and the science is unsettled.

Even though the company out there says, oh, no, it's just fine.

It is unsettled.

There are a lot of studies.

There's a lot more about to come out about the effects of these big electromagnetic fields.

When you read the directions on your cell phone, it says, hey, electromagnetic fields coming from this phone are kind of dangerous.

And keep the phone so many millimeters away from your side of your head, those kinds of things.

I mean, they're generally already known.

best practices say these things.

When you're talking about these kind of voltages running over farm fields where people are using equipment, a lot changes.

And there are a lot of really important things to know about operating or leaving equipment or having a steel building anywhere near these.

So the amount of disruption that's going to take place is far greater than anybody's admitting.

Again, the sphere of influence of these towers is way, way bigger than

than as being said.

Now, we have a general constituents meeting tonight at six o'clock at the Eagles Club in Verroqua.

We socialize for about an hour before the meeting, and then our meeting lasts as long as the agenda dictates.

But our purpose in having that particular constituents meeting is to bring people in, just like Mike is bringing people in.

you want to volunteer to participate.

What are your skills?

Let us know what your skills are so that we can direct you to the right thing for you to volunteer for so we can get the acceleration from your help.

We have those meetings have grown kind of

They grew and grew and grew, and then the Becky line was announced and it exploded.

In fact, the whole state kind of exploded.

That's why we ran out of signs, and we've got plenty of signs now for distribution.

They will also be at this meeting tonight.

But that's at the Eagles Club in Verroco, a social hour at five meetings starts at six.

We have things for people to fill out if they want to be kept in the loop via a newsletter that is also available for sign up on our website.

um no 765 lined out org uh so there there is so much information that we're trying to make available again these are all a person could i'm not telling anybody what to do we're not giving any legal advice we're just saying a person could do these things yeah i'll tell you what we're doing but i'm not going to tell you what to do and that's a that's a major thing here i think people just want to participate is this inevitable no

No application has been filed.

MGS is not even yet a Wisconsin utility.

In fact, MGS is newer to the scene than we are as an organization to stop this nonsense.

Will my land be worth less?

Well, we're encouraging people to have their lands evaluated.

Right now, as it stands, no one's going to look at the potential feature power line in the appraisal of your property.

So you'll have some real data.

Right now, right there, this is what my place is worth, not necessarily from a heartfelt standpoint, from a bottom line standpoint.

So we're a nonprofit, landowners, neighbors, supporters in the 10 counties, the two lines will cross.

Uh, we keep every claim sourced because utility utilities are they're watching us now very closely.

So I have to speak carefully.

I have to speak accurately.

And, uh, what we're asking for really is prove this need before anyone's land is taken, use existing corridors, first answer to who pays, who profits and what happens when a landowner says no.

The morning show on WRC radio, Mike, you were at the meeting last Friday in the Dells and one of the things pointed out, I think we mentioned it on this program once, but the fact that the new governor could help out in stopping this,

right?

Right.

So the, I mentioned it before, the PSC or public service commission, they're kind of the decision makers on this for the state of Wisconsin.

You might think it's the legislature

or maybe county boards or town boards or, uh, even the governor, the governor has some power to do some things, but, but the PSC is the one who actually makes the decision.

That's a three person, uh, body three.

So it's very small.

There are two that are not officially appointed.

They're just serving right now.

The new governor can either leave those two in or put two different people in, which would be a majority.

Now, uh, at that meeting saw County.

Tom Tiffany was there who's running for governor.

David Crowley is the other one.

And I haven't really heard any specific plan from him, but he has come out against the 765.

But Tom Tiffany said if he's elected governor, he will appoint two members that will oppose the 765 and look for alternatives, ways for Wisconsin to have the power that they need.

And, you know, we talked about

uh, the data centers, which by the way, uh, MGS, uh, midcontinent grid solutions are saying this is not about data centers.

I'm not sure anybody believes that because the lines go down to Illinois and, you know, uh, but the point is, um, he said, you know, if we're, if we are going to have data centers, then let's build a small clean nuclear power plant next to them to provide this instead of

cutting a swath through rural Wisconsin, destroying all this property, bring lines in from the Dakotas.

So I thought it was really informative, what he had to say.

And of course, there were some other legislators there that talked about what they were hoping to do.

But like I said, the PSC is kind of the core entity in Wisconsin that is going to make this decision.

So far, they've never turned down one of these line, a line, any line.

So this is, this is a big deal.

I would call this a David and Goliath fight because, uh, you know, the Daryl and power is a big 24 cooperatives support Daryl and power.

They're the Maribel line and Berkshire Hathaway is behind.

They're a giant corporation.

Um, and, and they've got

If, if we come up with one lawyer to fight this, they've got 20 lined up again, you know, on their side.

So they've got the money.

They got the power.

They've got most of the laws in their favor.

Uh, I just want to say we are not at all defeatist.

They're a David one before once before we all remember it.

David can win again against Goliath.

So I do not think this is a futile fight by any means, but I think that it's going to take quite a bit to defeat Goliath on this one.

Can I fight

that?

I just want to say, you know, we know for a fact that public pressure will make a difference here.

It's already making a difference not to mention uniting people who have kind of been divided on purpose.

And so to bring politics into it is a

something that we've tried to avoid.

I find it unfortunate that some people are turning it into kind of political one-upsmanship, pointing out the the faults of past administrations, making it okay to remove local control, making it okay to change eminent domain laws to favor corporations.

But we have to remember this is part of our political process.

People come in and lobby the government to change laws so that it is more favorable for business climates.

And we understand

that, we get that.

But now is the time for everybody to gather together and say, no, we want to go in a different direction.

And there are legitimate parts off the shelf, no personality, different directions to go.

In fact, some of the solutions to what's being suggested are really pretty easy.

and very readily available and as we see the development of science and things like a solid state batteries module nuclear although that is a terribly expensive way to solve this problem putting a a nuke next to a data center and there are all sorts of ramifications there is that wiser not I have no idea I'm gonna let the the data center people.

deal with that some other time.

Right now we know it has not been proven in any way shape or form that what is being suggested to become a proposal is not necessary.

You know, we I think as Wisconsinites generally think that it's a great idea to generate power much closer to home, make the state more efficient.

You know, one of the things that surprised me over time was

that just replacing old appliances can save Wisconsin about 50% of their energy use.

That is a fact.

and it's been proven over and over again.

In fact, I've been to meetings years ago where companies were gathering together to petition the electric companies to make it easier for people to buy more efficient appliances.

It's nothing glamorous there, but it's the truth, and it's very effective.

So when Mike mentions David and Goliath, certainly many fights like this have been won by the people, the Davids who are

fighting this fight many times over.

And I think it's important to remember that not only is that exactly where we are right now, but we're gathering facts and truths fast enough that we can counter this if we have a legitimate seat at the table.

By goodness, we're going to take that seat.

legitimate.

All right, we'll be back with a final wrap on the morning show in just a moment here on WRCO for a Wednesday morning.

Our morning show time on WRC Oh no seven sixty five line dot org our guests here and along with Mike Breninger Who is on the the neighbors side?

We are neighbors and Janet Johnson is here Janet does some things that that you want to add after listening to our conversation this morning

Well, I'm really glad a meal is here because he's covered just about everything I just you know as a consumer I you know my parents were born in the depression age when we grew up we

We're, you know, scolded when we left the room and we didn't turn the lights off.

And, you know, so energy conservation has always been kind of in the forefront of my mind.

And I just wonder where is the education today, you know, as far as the use of the computer and the use of AI and what is fueling what we're doing on our laptops and our cell phones.

I don't know where this education would come from, but I'd like to see people taking more time to realize that playing around with AI to make a cartoon figure on their cell phone or whatever, it's not free.

There are consequences to everything that we do, and conservation of our resources is so important, and how that equates to the water.

I keep going back to the water table, and my son was in the service, and he always tells me, he says, mom, it boils down to all we really need is water.

And how this equates, how this whole line going through, and the pillars that are going to be put in the ground forever, how that equates to the possible contamination of our water table.

And we just took a trip out west.

down to Utah, through Arizona, and out towards Las Vegas.

And the amount of power lines going through as you head into Las Vegas is frightening.

I mean, they are everywhere.

And then the billboards are saying, only water your lawn three times a day.

And then we went to see Hoover Dam.

And there's hardly any water in there.

And I'm just thinking, we really have to start thinking about our Earth and what we are doing to it.

my grandchildren and their grandchildren and the next generations because it probably won't affect my lifetime very much, but it's going to affect future generations and we really need to start thinking about that.

And I just think this is so evident that we're using farmland for solar fields and we can't do that.

We need that farmland.

We all eat, we all drink water.

Well said.

The thing that I'm conflicted about that I've been confused since Rob was here, the first time was in March is he kind of led me to believe that Wisconsin is just a carrier that we're really not going to benefit.

As they say, we are from this power.

We're not going to get a lot of it back.

I mean, have, have you heard that?

Yeah, definitely.

Uh, we are pretty sure at this point,

that they're heading straight for the Illinois border to tie together with JPL off the east coast.

So does that make Dakota wind power available to the east coast?

Yes.

Does it make the solar arrays that are happening outside of Rochester that are the beginning of the route for Mirabelle potentially capable of powering Chicago, powering the east coast?

Yes.

You know, what we're really looking for right now are

policy changes, changes in the law.

If people take a deeper look at how these laws have changed and how they can change to give us a little control back, I think that's a big deal.

Are we in a fight for what's left?

Indeed, we're in a fight for what's left.

This is what's left of Wisconsin right now, today.

If we just sit back and let basically what are a million volt towers

20 stories apiece with the nine lines on them.

You're talking about a 20 story electric fence.

As far as I'm concerned, there are all sorts of restrictions that happen.

They're asking to come across a world's premier habitat.

in the National Wildlife Refuge.

The migration is, as we know, have known since we were kids, is among the largest in the world of birds in each direction twice a year.

Inevitably, these wires and these towers will create serious problems.

So are we in a fight for what's left?

Yeah, we are.

Wake up.

Wisconsin and come together.

You do have a choice here and we are going to have to focus on law and we are going to have to get our public servants to be as dedicated as they can to what they say now.

Mike, locally, what can be done?

So I just want to say that Richland County is not on their own.

We are connecting with other counties, other groups that are involved.

In fact, we've got one of our work groups that's just trying to network this out because the more people we have, the better off we are.

But if people want to get involved locally, which I strongly encourage, even if the

Lines are not proposed going over someone's land.

They still have a vested interest in the well-being of Richland County.

So I just urge people to get involved.

We have a couple meetings that we've got set up right now.

One is September 28th, which is what we call a court team meeting.

These are the people that really

want to get involved.

Okay.

So, and the, the, all the work groups will be represented there.

There that's at 6pm at the city auditorium or the performing arts center, the old city auditorium.

That's on September 28th.

Then on October 19th is another community or large group meeting we'll be having at the city auditorium slash performing arts center.

And that's more informative.

Although we also like to see people coming together to

want to get dig in and do some work on this.

In terms of connecting with us, we have email address.

I'll give the email addresses, which is we are neighbors RC at gmail.com.

We are neighbors RC at gmail.com.

Seems like it's easy to remember, but write it down if you're listening.

We don't have a Facebook page yet and we don't have a website yet and that's

uh, hopefully in the works through our media group, but you know, we're trying to catch up here.

We're kind of, you know, moving as fast as we can.

So right now we've got an email address.

We've got these meetings that people can connect in with.

Interesting.

One of the, and everybody's got a theory.

One of the theories I heard was somebody was saying, well, right now they're presenting possible worst case scenarios.

Maybe they're going to come back with something that's going to be like, Oh, you know, it's, it's not as bad.

Have you heard that?

I mean, you know, I have heard that we've,

communicated with many people who have fought these lines in the past and won.

And they are winnable cases.

But one lady said, you know, there we were fighting this for for a couple of years and we won.

They dropped the line.

And when you know, here we are doing a big shaky dance.

And a year later, they filed again, the power company filed again.

And then they won that.

The people won that, stopped that from happening.

Same kind of idea, just extraordinarily intrusive power line through what is considered pristine contiguous woodland, just like through Vernon and Richland counties, just like Crawford County, especially like Crawford County.

And they came back a third time, and then the electric company came back a fourth time.

And so this is a battle.

And to win this war,

This fight will have repercussions for the next 100 years.

Truly, the towers will last about that long.

Are we going to wear it like a necklace?

I sure hope not.

We have the opportunity as citizens of Wisconsin right now to say how we see the electric grid working over the next 100 years.

There's technologies we as lay people can't see.

Clearly, the plans for these lines have been in the making for over a decade and don't deny it.

You knew data centers were coming.

And so we see this as a real opportunity to be a part of a process that we've kind of forgotten about over time.

You know, write down to our commitment to leaving the place better than when we found it.

And I am absolutely committed to leaving the place better than the way I found it.

And so I think...

Mike, in coordinating Richland County, Richland Center, is doing a great job that he has been given little time to respond to this, less time than we were with Maribel.

Keep in mind, you know, back when they were working on Cardinal Hickory, they were given years, two to three years to respond to this.

And here comes Maribel, we got about 18 months.

Here comes Becky, and here's Mike on

Oh my gosh, we've got seven months to deal with this.

And you know, it's like the flag on the field.

Wait a second, folks.

Hey, you know, we can't address the PSC until the application's on the table.

But once that happens, it's almost too late for us as citizens to have.

Yeah, there'll be public comment periods.

But at that point, it's just a smoke and tap dance.

So, you know, we really think right now the

the organizational coordinating that Mike is doing, and that no765line.org is doing to bring the community of counties together.

We went from thinking, oh, this is just a tiny little local issue too.

Oh, wait a second.

This is kind of regional issue.

Oh, holy smokes.

It's a state issue.

And now it's becoming a national issue.

So, and we are getting national attention.

It is affecting our gubernatorial race.

It's affecting the races of representatives and

state senators.

We know what a big deal this is now.

So it's energizing us to carry on.

Mike's group is growing rapidly and becoming far more functional and capable of bringing more and more people in.

So we just want to make it easy to get the information out so people know what the world's going on.

Thanks for the informative show today,

everybody.

We appreciate it.

Thanks, Phil.

You bet.

Thank you, Phil.

Mike Brennan, you're joining us along with Emil Smith and Janet Johnson on today's morning show.

you

Welcome to our morning show studios here in WRCO and we have a great show lined up for you today as well.

We've been really focusing on the whole 765 kilovolt line issue this week.

with Senator Mark Lyne and Representative Kurtz on Monday.

Yesterday we had Brian Rodehin, Director of Community Engagement for Midcontinent Grid Solutions.

And today we have Janet Johnson of the No 65 line organization.

We have Emil Smith as well.

We'll talk about his involvement.

And Mike Breninger is here from the We Are Neighbors Community Group.

Mike, we'll start with you this morning since you're a veteran of this particular program.

Another hat that you're wearing.

Tell me why you're such a concerned citizen.

It seems that I wear a lot of hats, Phil.

So here's a new one.

We're working on challenging the 765 line.

When I say we, this kind of started out, it was first really made aware of what was going on with the Maribel line, which affects Crawford and Vernon County.

I went to a meeting in Viroqua just to kind of check out what was going on.

I left that meeting and I was thinking, I'm glad that's not going through Richland County.

And then within a couple of weeks, of course, people got little postcards in the mail that were being affected by one of four proposed lines coming through Richland County and started to contact me and said, help, please help.

We don't have an organization in Richland County.

We don't know what to do.

So I brought it to the Southwest Partners Executive Team and said, hey, should we

which we'd be kind of the convening and organizing entity to challenge this for our county and try and work with other counties or regional groups to challenge this line because I mean, people were in great distress.

Their land was, you know, big swaths of land being used in this.

Some of it were very near their buildings.

They're concerned about the value of their land, their health, animal livestock health.

So out of that, we Southwest partners decided to jump into this fray, another thing to do, and really try and help our county, our community to organize themselves and take some affirmative action on this in trying to challenge this.

There's kind of the lanes that have been set up for us to challenge it.

You can write the cards into the company in the different places.

We can contact the PSC, the Public Service Commission, your legislators.

Those are kind of the lanes.

We're also looking for actions outside the lanes.

And that's where Southwest Partners is really pretty good at doing this.

So we've had a few meetings so far in Richland County.

We had our first one on August 31st at the

the Richland Center City Auditorium, which is also the Performing Arts Center.

We had about 300 people show up on that evening.

And since then, we've developed three tiers.

We have these large group meetings mostly to inform people.

The second is we have what we call the core team.

Those are the people who really want to get in, dig in, go forward, lead a group.

And then we have what we call the work groups.

So we've divided

What we need to do in the ten different categories of work groups and people have joined those Work groups like there's a media work group.

There's a legal work group There's a government contact work group and so forth and so people have gotten involved in various levels So Richland County is now well on the way other counties are doing things a little differently But this is the way we're doing it.

So once a month we have these these larger gatherings and

and try and inform everybody what's going on and encourage them to be involved in the core team or the work groups.

But right now the work of how we're opposing this is taking place in the work groups and then reporting back to the core team.

We've already got a few efforts that we're moving forward on.

Some I can talk about and some are a little bit, they're outside the lane, so we're not quite making them public yet.

But you know, there's

There's a lot of ways to attack this.

And I believe that the Midwest Grid Solutions, MGS, who is kind of representing this line coming through, it's called the Becky Line, coming through Richland County and other counties, they have a specific plan that they're trying to enact.

And when you ask them a question, they've got specific answers.

But most of the time those answers are not really answering a lot of the deeper questions that we've got.

So we we have to we have to go a little deeper on this and challenge what's happening.

So here I am.

Here I am trying to affect a positive outcome for our county.

And I'm also trying to help people work through the deep distress that I mean, there's some

Older people I don't want to get too carried away with the term older because you know, what is older?

Yeah, that's right

So people that, you know, there's a lot, there's retired people that are out there.

They've got 20 acres and property and they get this card and it shows the line coming right through their property.

They're like, I'm dying.

What can I, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if we see some serious health issues just coming out of the stress from what's going on in people's lives right now.

Cause everyone I've talked to that has gotten one of these, these postcards and said the lines coming through, maybe coming through your property.

Uh, they're in deep distress about it.

They're, they're not knowing what to do.

They're trying to do anything they can.

And so it's, this is not just, uh, you know, hopefully, uh, benign power line coming through.

It's, it's destroying people's property and their lives.

So it's, it's a significant thing.

And that's one of the big reasons we decided to get involved.

They've ever seen a topic mic in the community that, uh,

brings people together, Democrat, Republican, Catholic, Protestant.

I mean, everybody is in agreement.

I observed this when we had the first big large group meeting at the city auditorium.

You know, we had the people there, and I knew that there were people from

political both sides of the aisle ideological religious i mean all across the spectrum in fact after the gathering one guy came up to me and said there's a lot of things i don't agree with you on but this is one thing i do so thank you for getting involved in it so i i mean there's probably people in favor of this out there somewhere but i haven't seen or heard them yet maybe they're just scared to to raise their hand and open their mouths i'm not sure but

I couldn't identify anyone at any of the meetings we've had so far that is actually pro bringing the 765 line through.

And I'm very pleased that it goes across the political spectrum, Democrat, Republican.

They're all saying this is not for us.

Right.

Janet Johnson is here.

Janet, you contacted me early in the year about a morning show with retired professor Rob Danielson.

And this was the first that I had ever heard of this.

We had him on.

And as Mike said, it was kind of maybe skirting Richland County that time.

I didn't get any response from the show.

But when he came back in June or July, there was just this, what is going on?

You know, I mean, people kind of had heard about it by then and gotten their little cards in the mail.

But

you know, until you brought it to my attention, I was not aware of it, uh, at that time.

Right.

Yeah.

I'm, I have strong ties in Viroqua.

Um, and so I, I follow some of the Viroqua Facebook pages and I saw this post that was talking about the seven, six, five line and where they would go.

And I realized that these are the same.

This is the same line that goes through my backyard.

And I thought, wait a minute.

What's going on here?

And so I attended one of the meetings up at the Eagles Club in Verroqua, and this was late January, early February.

And I was just astounded that something like this could be going through, and nobody knew about it.

Nobody in Richland Center knew about it.

And so my goal from that point on was to inform Richland County of what is coming.

So that's how I kind of got involved in it.

And since then, I think we've all learned a little bit about it, but it's still cloudy and hazy.

I keep thinking I'm going to wake up in the morning and I'm going to understand what's going on.

And it's still just clear as mud.

You get some answers, but there are so many things on so many levels that don't make sense.

And it's just so violating.

to think that a company could come through and take your land.

And so it's very personal.

And it's very personal to a lot of people.

And now that the postcards came out, now everybody in Richland County knows about it.

But until then, we were trying to inform

with our landowner meetings.

We were trying to inform the people on the existing lines because that is a state law that that's where they're supposed to go.

So we went through the county GIS maps and found names and addresses and invited people to meetings.

We had one in Boaz and we had one at the Phoenix Center to try and form

people, what was happening and what was going down.

And we were working our way towards Salk County when they came out with the postcards and kind of like everything hit the fan at that point.

Like all of a sudden, all of Wisconsin or all of Southern Wisconsin, you know, knows about it.

And so it's, it's just been kind of a whirlwind since then.

Before I forget to ask you, we've had calls about the signs that no 76, no 765 kilowatt lines.

Are they still available,

Janet?

They are.

I don't know.

They are.

They are.

I know there was a backlog of them for quite a while, but they're out there now, and people have them.

And we have it on our website.

The artwork, so you can order them yourself if you want to.

And I know some of the local groups have ordered some, so there are some in Richland Center.

Just to mention, Christie Adson at Christie's Sunnyside Bakery.

has them for sale.

She says she's selling them like hotcakes.

Pun intended,

I guess.

That's right.

Emil Smith, good morning.

Good to have you in the studio.

Tell us a little about yourself and how you found your way to Richland

Center

Studios.

Wow.

Well, you know, the long story is longer than Janet's as far as where we started in this with the Maribel line.

We became aware purely by accident, by a survey that was issued and with very curious wording, like would you be likely to

be against this or more or less likely to vigorously oppose.

And so I took notice of the wording of the survey and was shocked to figure out that they were actually taking a survey to run the line from, uh, Marion, Minnesota to Bell center, which is their, uh, Maribel line.

Uh, they're asking for an awful lot here and it is not a done deal.

You know, we listened to what Brian had to say yesterday on your program and our responses from people within our group, which is now hundreds of people at least, is that what Brian had to say yesterday was clearly regurgitated, clearly practiced.

A response from folks that reached out to us afterwards was discussed and a few people just wanted to throw up.

I hope, can I say that on the radio?

Um, he mentions Brian mentions yesterday, uh, 17 times, uh, they want to minimize impact.

And, um, we would be more in agreement with him if we just understood their plans better.

And we've heard that again and again at meetings.

If you just understood this plan better, um, and I, I really think that's a, the recipe for lubrication before a suppository.

Can I say that on the radio?

Well, you just, I just did, you know, um,

No question that we can ask is going to change MISO's mind for this plan or MGS's plan or Dairyland's plan.

Do we really have a seat at the table is what got me involved?

This started from a very small origin to people than two more than two more.

Then a dozen then Janet came in and then of course Mike as as Richland Center started to recognize that Becky on top of Marybell or Becky an extension of Marybell and down to the Illinois line

made it go from two counties in Wisconsin to 10 counties in Wisconsin.

So our no765line.org is offering people information.

We are not telling anybody what to do.

We are not giving legal advice.

We are making it easy for people to understand how they can partake in this process.

And with so many layers and so many players, it's difficult.

I mean, we can say docket number this,

or fill out this form button unless we help people make it easier for them.

Offer the forms, offer the paperwork.

I see Mike came with plenty of paperwork today that helps people understand what's going on.

We are here to educate the public.

uh and help them participate in this process if we truly do have a seat at the table uh you know we're not here to offer alternatives either you know part of the rules in the state say well you kind of got to offer alternatives no no no we don't have to offer an alternative for a line that's illegitimate in the first place

we don't need to offer any alternatives so you know people say why don't they bury it hey there's serious engineering difficulties for burying this stuff there's serious engineering difficulties enough just hanging it in the air and i think regular lay people kind of get that feeling but asking lay people to respond to this especially in the

utterly ridiculous time period that they're asking us to learn these languages, learn these processes.

I mean, multiple languages, languages of transmission lines, legal language with the PSC of Wisconsin, legal language with the PUC of Minnesota.

What are the laws?

What is eminent domain and how has it changed over the years?

And these are questions that

Brian can't answer.

He won't answer.

He shouldn't answer.

So there's clearly a directed way to make the public feel like they're out of this.

It's over.

It ain't over.

And I can't stress enough that we're here to help people participate.

No765Line.org has an amazing website.

It's a go-to interactive.

You can buy signs over our website and go to

the meat locker or the deli or the bakery and Richland Center and pick up your signs after you've ordered them online.

We have made it easy for people in the whole 10 counties stretch to print their own signs if that's better, stronger, faster.

Go for it.

It's a terrible look for Mirabelle and Becky.

Dairyland that has been polishing their look for years looks terrible.

for this to to assume that people are just going to jump right on board and allow this to come plowing through their yards is just insane.

The physics changes when you get over 345 kilovolts, it becomes far more dangerous.

It becomes far more reactive to the environment in so many ways.

How do you expect late people to really understand any of that even ask?

relevant questions.

Um, as if all we need to do is understand it better to accept this monstrosity.

Um, uh, that spokesperson yesterday is newer to this issue in Richland County than we are to this issue between Minnesota Crawford, Vernon and on, on entry.

You know, we, we have been studying this.

Uh, we know what the laws say we know where, you know,

Some of the claims that some folks are making are unsubstantiated in scientific study.

They are unsubstantiated.

Even MISO as an organization says, hey, some of these things are, you know, we're assuming that they're going to be like this, but studies say no.

It's going to be less or it's not going to be that great.

and and so the proposition that all of this is good for them you know they're guaranteed rate of return.

permanent destruction of miles of habitat.

You know, maybe someday these towers will come down, but the concrete piers will still be in the ground forever.

And I think there's great resentment from people who have been stored in their lands and improving their lands and working for generations, decades, a new investment based on retirees coming in and even young people coming back.

And we want young people to come back.

Oh, I can't wait to come back and

look at the high lines.

You know, that's not what's being said here.

People are changing their minds.

It's already altering our economy.

Just the suggestion of this is altering potential deals, potential legacies.

So for my side to step in and say, oh, you know, this isn't going to be a really big deal, MSG, you know, or MGS, why

you know, why make this big deal?

Well, it's a big deal for those of us who spent decades of our lives improving our properties and have chosen these views on purpose.

Furthermore, there has been, they prove it to us that this will work, prove it to us that this is necessary.

So far, that proof is not in the pudding.

It is just not there.

We use less power as a state now.

2.9% less power than we did in 2005.

Do data centers throw a wrench in this work?

So yeah, maybe, but when we started this, we didn't even want to talk about data centers.

This is strictly about offering us transmission lines through the state to the border of Illinois.

But then we get mixed messages even from Scenic Rivers Energy Co-op that says quite clearly,

This new power will be used for data centers that include AI and digital currency.

Now, I get that as a business person and sharing this forum with other business people.

Hey, we likes us some file cabinets in the cloud and we like AI.

It can be helpful.

It does have a purpose from a small business and a big business standpoint.

These can be useful technologies, but at what cost Wisconsinites really?

We're going to do this to our countryside in order to have a library in our living room or whatever it equates to, I guess.

Line growers have known far longer than they admit that these data centers are on the horizon.

And to me, what they're offering us is high lines on the horizon.

It will be our horizon.

When we look out the window, we're going to see these for miles.

So the sphere of influence of these towers goes far further than what's being admitted, whether it's electromagnetic fields, light at night, noise at all times, but especially during weather events or where we get foggy skies and high humidity.

Then the noise levels, I just think people can't even imagine that.

How can you even ask a question of something you can't imagine?

will have those kinds of impacts.

It just goes much further into the countryside than is being advertised here.

We also consider running this type of electricity antiquated

But newly necessary, if you're going to insist on investing in 4,000 acres of solar panels and in hundreds of wind turbines in rural play Dakotas and in rural Minnesota, well, yeah, you develop that kind of power in those rural areas.

You got to pipe it somewhere.

And this is how it gets piped.

This is the most efficient way to run this power.

So when when we look at what is Wisconsin's consumer driven demand of community solar.

make it easier for me to put solar on my roof.

Whether it's my business roof, my home roof, my ag roof, that hasn't even, that's hardly started in Wisconsin.

And part of it is because these big companies haven't planned for that.

They've planned for something entirely different and they haven't really let people know, I know we're not interested in community solar.

We hear complaints from our co-op that community solar won't be paying its fair share for the lines will.

How about asking for it and making this happen and certainly it's been incentivized so much in Minnesota that now there's zones in Minnesota that have so much solar.

They don't want to add anymore and so you know but the the efficiency for them is very high now there.

It's so incentivized, people are covering farm fields with solar panels.

That was never part of the deal.

I mean, that's been objected to for decades.

Don't do that.

So we understand the base load issues.

We understand peak load issues.

So when we have someone like a politician step in front of us and say, do you like it when the lights go on, when you flick that switch, that's patronizing crap.

Of course we do.

We love our frozen foods and our efficiencies.

So to almost step in front of a crowd and threaten us as if this doesn't happen, our lights are going to go out?

I don't think so.

And I think it's rude.

And I think it's rude to ask people who have invested their life savings, their lifetimes, generational lifetimes in properties to be legacyed.

And it's just rude to expect us to give those things up for a monopolistic profit that is guaranteed for these guys.

So, you know, to me, they're throwing AI spaghetti at the wall and they're trying to get away with it.

They're not backing up anything that they've said with real hard facts that we see in studies that say, no, no, it's not exactly like what you guys are saying.

You're really polishing that turd.

Can I say that on the radio?

And it really it ends up being very, very unnecessary.

We just there is no necessity for this.

There is no necessity for us offering an alternative.

Yeah, we can come back to asking for for community solar and applied solar for homes.

And you know, we know that there's really no off ramp for the power they're suggesting in Wisconsin.

You know, at first and in that very first survey, this is the spring of 2025 when I ran across this, would you feel better about this if you knew that it was going to power farms in near Richland County?

And the fact of the matter, it's not what this is for.

And so we've gotten admittances later, the goalposts are moving, the whole story seems to be moving.

And the fear mongering that's happening, the patronizing demeanor,

we

don't appreciate it.

uh you know um someone suggested that it's kind of our fault for kind of being hippies which makes me laugh because i'm not hippie but you know whatever um that that because we've been asking for green power this is what we get and now you're just going to have to wear this power line like a necklace for the rest of your life it ain't we don't um it's just not like that i think that

People in general, and as Mike has said, a lot of people thoroughly reject the political one-upsmanship that's taking place right now.

The politicization of these issues is unnecessary.

You know, for a while I stumped that this is a nonpartisan apolitical issue.

Charlie Barron's makes a joke about it being the most bipartisan thing since beer in Wisconsin.

And I'm starting to see why he's saying that it will take great cooperation, great coordination.

We're, you know, at no 765 line.org, we are making it possible for

every county that's being affected right now to coordinate, come together as a single voice.

That's what we're looking for.

We've made a central base of information.

We have county liaisons that can direct people from different parts of the state to someone close to them who can offer them signs, offer them information, make it easier for them to understand

how it exactly may affect their parcel numbers, their properties, things like that.

The power that they're talking about pumping through here is based on a forecast, not a track record.

MISO has been making forecasts for decades that have been way higher than anything that's actually been needed.

And by their own documents, you know, they're

the industry monitors within their own groups, within MISO's own groups disagree with MISO's claims of the calculated cost benefit.

I'll just keep it as simple as that.

They also say that if these lines aren't built, Wisconsin will make up for it.

the 22.8 gigawatts of generation can get built closer to home, should get built closer to home.

If we build these systems closer to home, there's just no need for these monster transmission lines.

The reason that they're necessary is because the power is in Minnesota where it's been incentivized and in the Dakotas.

So do we have to bear the burden, carry the weight of

crazy private investment.

I don't really think so.

So prove it, myso, prove it, MGS, prove it, convince us.

Put it on your website.

Name the studies that show you the line is needed.

Right now, you don't really have any data there.

So I could go on, but I should let someone else go on.

There are there are so many layers and so many players.

And we have been told so many mixed messages or no message at all, even to direct questions.

So when we started this, we need to let people know that verbal communication with these folks means zero.

There is zero legal ramifications to them telling you something that ain't.

However, if you put your questions in writing, you can ask for a response in writing and actually ask for it by a particular date.

And if you don't get that response or a response that's satisfactory, you have reason to file a complaint.

But if you don't say anything, if you don't write anything, if you don't make these requests, you don't have a seat at the table anymore.

You've basically given that up.

So I also want to let a lot of people talk about the potential health effects of these high voltages and the science is unsettled.

Even though the company out there says, oh, no, it's just fine.

It is unsettled.

There are a lot of studies.

There's a lot more about to come out about the effects of these big electromagnetic fields.

When you read the directions on your cell phone, it says, hey, electromagnetic fields coming from this phone are kind of dangerous.

And keep the phone so many millimeters away from your side of your head, those kinds of things.

I mean, they're generally already known.

best practices say these things.

When you're talking about these kind of voltages running over farm fields where people are using equipment, a lot changes.

And there are a lot of really important things to know about operating or leaving equipment or having a steel building anywhere near these.

So the amount of disruption that's going to take place is far greater than anybody's admitting.

Again, the sphere of influence of these towers is way, way bigger than

than as being said.

Now, we have a general constituents meeting tonight at six o'clock at the Eagles Club in Verroqua.

We socialize for about an hour before the meeting, and then our meeting lasts as long as the agenda dictates.

But our purpose in having that particular constituents meeting is to bring people in, just like Mike is bringing people in.

you want to volunteer to participate.

What are your skills?

Let us know what your skills are so that we can direct you to the right thing for you to volunteer for so we can get the acceleration from your help.

We have those meetings have grown kind of

They grew and grew and grew, and then the Becky line was announced and it exploded.

In fact, the whole state kind of exploded.

That's why we ran out of signs, and we've got plenty of signs now for distribution.

They will also be at this meeting tonight.

But that's at the Eagles Club in Verroco, a social hour at five meetings starts at six.

We have things for people to fill out if they want to be kept in the loop via a newsletter that is also available for sign up on our website.

um no 765 lined out org uh so there there is so much information that we're trying to make available again these are all a person could i'm not telling anybody what to do we're not giving any legal advice we're just saying a person could do these things yeah i'll tell you what we're doing but i'm not going to tell you what to do and that's a that's a major thing here i think people just want to participate is this inevitable no

No application has been filed.

MGS is not even yet a Wisconsin utility.

In fact, MGS is newer to the scene than we are as an organization to stop this nonsense.

Will my land be worth less?

Well, we're encouraging people to have their lands evaluated.

Right now, as it stands, no one's going to look at the potential feature power line in the appraisal of your property.

So you'll have some real data.

Right now, right there, this is what my place is worth, not necessarily from a heartfelt standpoint, from a bottom line standpoint.

So we're a nonprofit, landowners, neighbors, supporters in the 10 counties, the two lines will cross.

Uh, we keep every claim sourced because utility utilities are they're watching us now very closely.

So I have to speak carefully.

I have to speak accurately.

And, uh, what we're asking for really is prove this need before anyone's land is taken, use existing corridors, first answer to who pays, who profits and what happens when a landowner says no.

The morning show on WRC radio, Mike, you were at the meeting last Friday in the Dells and one of the things pointed out, I think we mentioned it on this program once, but the fact that the new governor could help out in stopping this,

right?

Right.

So the, I mentioned it before, the PSC or public service commission, they're kind of the decision makers on this for the state of Wisconsin.

You might think it's the legislature

or maybe county boards or town boards or, uh, even the governor, the governor has some power to do some things, but, but the PSC is the one who actually makes the decision.

That's a three person, uh, body three.

So it's very small.

There are two that are not officially appointed.

They're just serving right now.

The new governor can either leave those two in or put two different people in, which would be a majority.

Now, uh, at that meeting saw County.

Tom Tiffany was there who's running for governor.

David Crowley is the other one.

And I haven't really heard any specific plan from him, but he has come out against the 765.