No — and we’re careful about this. The lines themselves are part of MISO’s Long-Range Transmission Plan (Tranche 2.1): publicly planned, cost-allocated regional projects on 150–200-foot steel towers across southern Wisconsin. What is private is who profits. Of the companies developing the two lines, only Dairyland Power Cooperative is member-owned; the rest — GridLiance Heartland (a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Transmission), Transource Energy (an AEP/Evergy partnership), and BHE Transmission (Berkshire Hathaway) — are private, for-profit companies earning a regulated return on the build, while Wisconsin ratepayers carry the cost. “Private companies will profit” is accurate; “it’s a private project” is not. Source · MISO Long-Range Transmission Plan (Tranche 2.1); project filings; MISO cost allocation

Of the companies developing the two lines, only Dairyland Power Cooperative is member-owned. The rest — GridLiance Heartland (a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Transmission), Transource Energy (an AEP/Evergy partnership), and BHE Transmission (Berkshire Hathaway) — are private, for-profit companies earning a regulated return on the build. The multi-billion-dollar cost is allocated across the region — Wisconsin ratepayers among those who pay. Source · MISO project filings; MISO cost allocation

The proposed structures are 150–200-foot steel towers — roughly double the height of the existing lines in the area. The lines are proposed across southern Wisconsin, including the Driftless region, but exact routes aren’t settled: in an April 24, 2026 letter to landowners, Transource Energy — a co-developer of the BECI line — stated that “specific routes, structures, siting impacts, or localized effects cannot yet be answered.” Source · MariBell and BECI project descriptions; Transource Energy letter, April 24, 2026

Wisconsin’s electricity demand has been essentially flat for two decades. By one measure, the state’s 2024 retail electricity sales were modestly lower than in 2005. The corridors are not designed to deliver power to the communities they cross — and the data-center projects driving recent demand forecasts are separate proposals in separate proceedings. Source · EIA-861 Wisconsin retail sales, 2005–2024 (see By the Numbers)

That’s the central dispute. MISO’s planning case claims the project returns $1.80 to $3.50 of benefit for every dollar spent. MISO’s own Independent Market Monitor — Dr. David Patton of Potomac Economics — estimates less than 40¢ of benefit per dollar. Resolving that gap is exactly what the PSC’s evidentiary record is for. Source · MISO LRTP benefit metrics; Potomac Economics (Independent Market Monitor)

No. We support a modern, reliable grid and the growth of renewable power. Our position is narrower: these two projects, through these landscapes, don’t hold up — on need, on cost, and on what they would do to the land and communities in their path. Supporting clean energy and questioning two expensive, contested lines are not in conflict. Source · campaign position

Each project goes through the process on its own track. MariBell’s application is expected to be filed at the Wisconsin PSC in fall 2026; BECI’s is expected in early 2027. In each case the Commission then decides on a record of filings, testimony, studies, and public comment. Until a project’s application is filed, there’s no docket to comment in for that project. See the road to the CPCN for both timelines, or the regulatory track for how the public takes part. Source · Wisconsin PSC CPCN process; campaign timeline; MariBell and BECI published filing timelines

Three things help most before the docket opens: join the email list so you hear about hearings and deadlines, document what lives on your land (birds and plants — useful to the record), and if you own land near the route, read the landowner guide. When the PSC docket opens, we’ll post exactly how to comment and intervene. Source · campaign

No 765 Line, Inc. is a Wisconsin 501(c)(3) nonprofit — a citizen coalition of neighbors across southern Wisconsin, funded by donations. More about who we are → Source · No 765 Line, Inc.