Not a Done Deal

About Not a Done Deal

Two 765,000-volt transmission lines — MariBell and BECI — are proposed to cross southern Wisconsin. No 765 Line, Inc. is a Wisconsin nonprofit helping landowners and communities understand the projects, the process, and what they can do about it. Conversations with the people tracking the lines, the law, and the land. More at no765line.org.

Publisher

No765 Line

Category

news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

11 Aug 2026

Latest episode

23 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

5 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   23 Sept 2026

   "It becomes completely unnecessary": Al Buss on energy independence in Vernon County

   Al Buss lives with his wife in a 170-year-old log home in the Town of Kickapoo, in Vernon County. He is the president of the Vernon County Energy District, a small nonprofit that started on Earth Day 2020 with one idea: keep the money Vernon County spends on energy in Vernon County. Vernon County is on the path of MariBell, the 765 kV line proposed by Dairyland Power Cooperative and a NextEra subsidiary from Marion, Minnesota to Bell Center, Wisconsin. The developers say they expect to file for a permit this fall. A second project, BECI, is proposed further east. This episode is about the first one, and about what the people who would live under it have been building instead. Recorded at WDRT (https://www.wdrt.org/)Driftless Community Radio, in Viroqua. This podcast is for general information only and is not legal advice. For decisions about your land, consult your own attorney. Sources for figures cited in this episode: - $14 billion leaving Wisconsin: David Abel and Katya Spear, "Wisconsin Opportunity in Domestic Energy Production: The Economic and Health Benefits of 100% In-State Energy Production," COWS, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Feb. 4, 2019 ($14.4 billion, 2016 data). - Co-op fixed charge: Vernon Electric Cooperative residential facility charge $48.50, rates effective Sept. 1, 2026. - Cost of new nuclear: Lazard, Levelized Cost of Energy+ 2026. - Wisconsin Home Energy Rebates: focusonenergy.com/ira-hear (focusonenergy.com/ira-hear). - Vernon County Comprehensive Energy Plan: vced.energy ( vced.energy), under "reports." - What the application must disclose: PSC Transmission Line Application Filing Requirements (Sept. 2025), §§ 2.3-2.6. - Local government actions: https://no765line.org/take-action/resolution-tracker/ (https://no765line.org/take-action/resolution-tracker/) Chapters | Time | Chapter | |---|---| | 0:00 | Cold open: "it becomes completely unnecessary" | | 0:18 | Al Buss, the Vernon County Energy District, and MariBell | | 1:12 | Why the district does not lobby | | 5:39 | Is the line necessary? | | 8:07 | The fixed charge: what you pay before you buy any power | | 9:55 | How the energy district started | | 13:25 | Heat pumps, EVs, and what actually works | | 17:44 | Peaks, rate design, and not building power plants | | 20:37 | Does Wisconsin need more power? | | 24:56 | Open-house talking points, batteries, and the extension cord | | 27:45 | What leaves the state, and what that is per county | | 30:35 | EVs, water heaters, and the 2026 rebates | | 37:06 | The Vernon County comprehensive energy plan | | 42:50 | Independence versus dependence | | 44:32 | When MariBell is filed: the section to read | | 47:08 | Outro | The "Not a Done Deal" podcast is a production of No 765 Line, Inc, hosted and produced by Michael Browne. More info at https://no765line.org/podcast/ (https://no765line.org/podcast/)

2. 

   1 Sept 2026

   How a 765kV Line was stopped in its tracks

   In 2007, two utility companies proposed a 765-kilovolt transmission line: 275miles, from a coal plant in West Virginia across Virginia into Maryland, about 7,000 acres of new right-of-way, $2.1 billion paid for by ratepayers. It was never built. In August 2012, PJM, the regional grid operator for that part of the country, cancelled it. The reason PJM gave was that the need for it no longer existed. Keryn Newman spent four years making that case. She lives in Shepherdstown, WestVirginia. She is not a lawyer and not an engineer. In 2009 she and her neighbors formed StopPATH WV (https://stoppathwv.com/index.html). When the line died, the companies asked ratepayers across 13 states to reimburse them $121 million for a line that was never built, and Keryn and another West Virginia resident, Alison Haverty, took that to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) themselves, with no attorney, and then to a federal appeals court in Washington. They won. The court threw out more than $6 million in public-relations and lobbying costs the company had been charging to people's electric bills. In this episode she walks through what actually happened: why the need case forPATH fell apart in the Virginia proceeding, what she and her neighbors did in the first month and over the following years, where someone with a limited number of hours should spend them, and how to read a formula rate to find out what is being charged back to your electric bill. She also explains the U.S. Department of Energy's National Transmission Needs Study, and what a national interest electric transmission corridor designation would mean for landowners. Here is why we are talking to her in Wisconsin: American Electric Power was one ofthe two companies behind PATH. AEP is a parent company of Transource, and Transource is half of Midcontinent Grid Solutions, the company proposing BECI here. Same voltage. Some of the same names. Eighteen years apart. Two comment windows close September 7, 2026. MGS is taking comments on theBECI study segments: https://no765line.org/take-action/comment-to-mgs/ (https://no765line.org/take-action/comment-to-mgs/). The Departmentof Energy's National Transmission Needs Study comment window (https://www.energy.gov/oe/national-transmission-needs-study) closes the same day; Guest: Keryn Newman, StopPATH WV — https://stoppathwv.com (https://stoppathwv.com) Sources for figures cited in this episode: - FERC order on MGS Wisconsin's BECI transmission incentives, including the abandoned-plant incentive discussed at 24:00 background: https://no765line.org/news-beci-ferc-incentives/ (https://no765line.org/news-beci-ferc-incentives/) - PATH advocacy and public-relations costs: U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, No. 20-1324, decided December 28, 2021 - U.S. Department of Energy, National Transmission Needs Study (section 216 of the Federal Power Act) - Comment to MGS on the BECI study segments: https://no765line.org/take-action/comment-to-mgs/ (https://no765line.org/take-action/comment-to-mgs/) (https://no765line.org/take-action/comment-to-mgs/)Speakers appear with their permission; the views in these interviews are the speakers' own. This podcast is for general information only and is not legal advice. For decisions about your land, consult your own attorney. Music: "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0. Chapters || 0:00 | Cold open - "and then later it was cancelled" || 0:18 | Why a West Virginia fight matters in Wisconsin || 2:19 | The money: who paid for the company's advertising || 5:34 | The first notice, and the first month || 6:56 | Son of PATH, Valley Link, and the StopPATH blog || 10:06 | Project Mountaineer - why the need case for PATH fell apart || 12:25 | The day PJM cancelled it || 13:43 | Where to spend a limited number of hours || 18:21 | Valley Link: what Wisconsin should expect next || 22:30 | Reading a formula rate to find what you are being charged || 24:29 | The fight doesn't end when the line dies || 27:15 | September 7: the DOE Needs Study, section 216, and NIETCs || 30:48 | "Don't doubt your power" || 31:22 | Before September 7 - what you can do

3. 

   26 Aug 2026

   Did anybody in Wisconsin ask for this? Two days inside the MGS open houses

   Two days inside MGS's BECI open houses. On day two in Baraboo (UW-Platteville's Lange Center, Aug 25), Michael talks with Jim, whose family and neighbors sit in the path near Lodi, and with Kris Brewer, one of the Sauk County organizers who had volunteers, clipboards, and sign-ups running before the doors opened. Then board member Emile Smith sits down at the Gays Mills open house (Aug 24) with Donna Bell, town of Scott clerk and landowner, whose century farm on Bell Center Ridge lies under two of the proposed route segments - and whose township was told by Dairyland Power, the developer of "MariBell," the other 765 kV project, "don't worry, you're notinvolved." MGS is taking comments on its BECI study segments through September 7, 2026. We've made it simple: ⁠no765line.org⁠ (https://no765line.org/take-action/comment-to-mgs/) -> Take Action -> Comment to MGS. This podcast is for general information only and is not legal advice. For decisions about your land, consult your own attorney. Sources for figures cited in this episode: - FERC order on MGS Wisconsin's BECI transmission incentives (ER26-2376, 195 FERC ¶ 61,251, June 26, 2026) background: ⁠https://no765line.org/news-beci-ferc-incentives/⁠ (https://no765line.org/news-beci-ferc-incentives/) - Commissioner-to-utility moves since 1996: WPR, "Wisconsin lawmakers propose bill to slow the 'revolving door' between regulators and utilities" (https://www.wpr.org/news/wisconsin-bill-slow-revolving-door-between-regulators-utilities); Urban Milwaukee, Dec 22, 2025 (Valcq/Alliant) and Feb 10, 2026 (revolving-door bill) - Local government actions (23): ⁠https://no765line.org/take-action/resolution-tracker/⁠ (https://no765line.org/take-action/resolution-tracker/) Cold open - did anybody from Wisconsin ask for this line? || 0:13 | Back in Baraboo - day two of the open houses || 1:18 | Arrival at the Lange Center || 1:57 | Jim - who asked for this line? || 5:35 | Kris Brewer - organizing in Sauk County || 9:48 | Emile & Donna Bell - a legacy farm near Bell Center (Gays Mills) || 17:56 | Before September 7 - what you can do |

4. 

   21 Aug 2026

   Voices from Baraboo: 342 people, one library, and the BECI study segments

   On August 20, a Sauk County informational meeting about the proposed BECI 765 kV transmission line filled the Baraboo Public Library past capacity; the sign-in sheet counted 342 people, with crowds standing outside for the whole meeting. Afterward, Michael Browne turned on a recorder. Five conversations: Sue Stackman, whose fourth-generation century farm in Rock Springs sits in the path; Chris and Dawn Speerings of North Freedom, where a proposed turn tower would stand less than 100 yards from their bedroom; Kay Luxdon, whose Hill Point dairy farm hosted this year's dairy breakfast; Joel Johnson and Janet Johnson on how 342 people ended up at the library; and Tennille Osthoff, vice chair of No 765 Line, on what happens next. MGS open houses run August 24-27, and segment comments are due September 7. For information on how to submit comments to the developer: no765line.org/take-action/comment-to-mgs/ (https://no765line.org/take-action/comment-to-mgs/) Details and event times: no765line.org/events (no765line.org/events) (0:00) Cold open: "It's going to cost us all" (0:18) Sue Stackman: a century farm in Rock Springs (4:33) Chris & Dawn Speerings: a tower 100 yards from the bedroom (11:18) Kay Luxdon: a Hill Point dairy farm and a letter in the garbage (14:26) Joel & Janet Johnson: how 342 people ended up at the library (22:34) Tennille Osthoff: what happens next Speakers appear with their permission; the views in these interviews are the speakers' own. This podcast is for general information only and is not legal advice. For decisions about your land, consult your own attorney. Music: "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0.

5. 

   11 Aug 2026

   78 study segments, a September 7 deadline — and what landowners can do (w/ Rob Danielson)

   Days after Midcontinent Grid Solutions mailed landowners across nine southern Wisconsin counties and published 78 preliminary "study segments" for the proposed BECI 765 kV transmission line, Michael Browne sits down with Rob Danielson — who has tracked utility expansion projects since the 2010 Badger Coulee fight — to walk through what just happened and what to do next: the information-request "punch list" every landowner should send how to work the August 24–27 open houses why the September 7 comment deadline matters and why this is Not a Done Deal. Details and event times: no765line.org/events (https://no765line.org/events). This podcast is for general information only and is not legal advice. For decisions about your land, consult your own attorney. | 0:35 | Welcome; who Rob Danielson is | | 6:33 | What a 765 kV line actually is (250-ft easement, ~200-ft towers) | | 10:22 | Who's building MariBell and BECI | | 14:46 | How MISO planning works — and who drives it | | 17:12 | The 78 study segments, the letters, and the February target | | 22:27 | Take it seriously: land, family, habitat — and lawyers | | 25:07 | The landowner punch list: maps, easement width, construction areas, access roads, towers | | 32:59 | You have more power than you think — the Badger Coulee precedent | | 36:07 | Template letters and finding sample language | | 44:37 | The 37-month precedent vs. a 7-month sprint | | 49:37 | The existing-corridor question: § 1.12(6) and the 9% figure | | 1:00:16 | County-by-county open house schedule (Aug 24–27) | | 1:01:24 | Working the open house: letters, names, forms, siting engineers | | 1:07:24 | After the open house: surveyors and land agents | | 1:09:44 | One thing to do today | Further citations: MGS project site: mgs-projects.com/BECI (mgs-projects.com/BECI) Open house schedule + September 7 comment deadline — no765line.org/events (no765line.org/events) MISO Long-Range Transmission Plan Tranche 2.1 (approved Dec. 10, 2024; 24 projects, ~$21.8B): misoenergy.org (misoenergy.org) → "Transforming the Grid: MISO's $21.8B Tranche 2.1 Transmission Portfolio" Wisconsin's siting priority law — Wis. Stat. § 1.12(6): docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/1/12/6 (docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/1/12/6) What a 765 kV line is (easement width, tower height, comparisons): no765line.org/the-765-line/ (no765line.org/the-765-line/) Badger Coulee CPCN proceeding (2013–2015) — PSC of Wisconsin docket 5-CE-142 (apps.psc.wi.gov (apps.psc.wi.gov) ERF)- Music: "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 — creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

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