The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is accepting public comment on plans for the Badger Coulee Transmission Line, a transmission project that would stretch from La Crosse County to Madison and could impact more than 100 acres of wetlands.
Officials with American Transmission Co. and several partners estimate they would temporarily fill the wetlands during construction of the line, which would stretch 181 miles across eight different counties. They said only one acre of wetlands would be permanently filled for the project.
Corps spokesman George Stringham said the project isn’t out of the ordinary.
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“This proposed project is smaller than a lot of the other ones we’ve received in recent years, which include both the scope of it as well as the impacts that have been identified,” he said.
Stringham said the corps will evaluate potential environmental and wildlife impacts before issuing a permit.
“Certain things have to take into consideration, like if there are any endangered species habitats in the area, or certain breeding or spawning time periods,” Stringham said.
Stringham said the temporarily filling of wetlands would mostly be to enable the construction of support structures.
“Once the constructions moved on down the road, they go back and restore that stream or that wetland area to the condition that it was before,” he said.
The line crosses the Wisconsin and the Black rivers, both navigable waterways that Stringham said would require special consideration during construction.
The application is open to comment until March 13.
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