New State Filing by Citizens Group Challenges ATC Plan to Build "Greenfield" Transmission Lines
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PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. - WisconsinEagle -- The Responsible Energy Alliance, a local coalition of concerned citizens and property owners, alleged today in a public filing with state regulators that the application of American Transmission Company (ATC) to run new extra high-voltage transmission lines through pristine lands in western Ozaukee and eastern Washington counties is incomplete, and should be rejected.

The proposed transmission lines would transmit electrical power to the new mega AI data center under construction by Vantage Data Centers in Port Washington. In today's filing with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC), the Responsible Energy Alliance urges regulators to send ATC back to the drawing board to prepare a new application. Another filing on the same day by Restoring Lands, a local land trust in Ozaukee and Washington counties, made similar claims.

Rather than utilizing existing utility corridors to site the high-voltage transmission lines, as state law prioritizes, ATC proposes to construct them through "greenfield" areas in western Ozaukee County and eastern Washington County. The ATC plan, first introduced publicly last fall, has generated widespread public concern and criticism.

An initial PSC determination in December 2025 found that the ATC application was complete, starting an up-to-360-day clock for a final power lines routing decision. ATC has since filed hundreds of amendments, supplements, clarifications, and modifications to its initial proposal. Yet, according to the citizens group, nowhere in the voluminous filings does ATC ever explain why the "greenfield" segments of its proposed routing should be approved, instead of alternative routing that complies with the priorities established under Wisconsin's statutory routing criteria.

The citizen group claims that ATC has not explained why its proposal "so utterly fails to comply with the Wisconsin statutory routing criteria" that favors existing utility corridors for such transmission lines. Today's filing was in response to ATC's request that the PSC reconsider a July 1 order for ATC to revise its application, to account for the extraordinary number of changes made over the past seven months to the initial proposal.

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In another filing made today, the citizens group submitted expert testimony to demonstrate that serious biological consequences would result from the transmission lines being routed through either of the greenfield segments, as proposed by ATC.

In the filing, the expert, Dr. Gary Casper, explains that the proposed routing "most definitely will cause harm, there is no question about that." He continues, "n my opinion neither [of the proposed greenfield] routes are acceptable. The application fails to convincingly demonstrate that either option is necessary or offers functional or environmental advantages over using the [a]lternative route" that utilizes the existing utility corridors, consistent with Wisconsin law.

Wisconsin law identifies using existing utility corridors as a priority. Instead, ATC seeks to build new industrial-scale trestle towers and related transmission lines through roughly eight miles of greenfield territory running along the Milwaukee River watershed and corridor in Fredonia and Farmington, and/or a few miles south through Saukville and Trenton.  The estimated cost of the project is roughly $1.36 billion to $1.64 billion, depending on the final route selection, according to ATC's original application.

ATC's proposal to run the power lines through greenfield areas, which contain a multitude of ecologically-sensitive and valuable parcels, has generated substantial concern from impacted communities, citizens, and others. Among those who have publicly expressed their opposition to ATC's greenfield routing proposal are the Town of Fredonia, the Village of Fredonia, the Town of Farmington, the Town of Saukville, the Town of Trenton, Ozaukee County, Washington County, and the City of Port Washington, the community that is sponsoring the AI data center project and providing substantial tax breaks to the developer through a TID.

Even the data center developer itself, Vantage Data Centers, has expressed publicly its support of the alternative routing, which would largely follow existing utility corridors instead of dissecting greenfield areas as ATC proposes.

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Others who have recommended the alternative routing be used (instead of the greenfield routing) include the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation, each of which expressed concern about the loss of important cultural heritage sites such as Native American effigy mounds and their associated viewsheds, and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, which is concerned about potential loss of agricultural acreage.

Ultimately, the PSC will decide which route will be used for the Port Washington AI data center transmission lines. A decision was expected before the end of 2026. However, if the PSC revokes its completeness determination, thus requiring ATC to file a brand-new application, the process could start all over again, causing material delay to the Port Washington AI data center operations.

The citizens group and Dr. Casper both believe that, from an environmental and public safety standpoint, more time to analyze this enormous and expensive transmission line project would be a blessing rather than a burden. Dr. Casper's testimony points out that the due diligence issues are considerable, and argue strongly for a revised timeline to assess adequately the environmental impacts.

For example, he notes that there has not been sufficient time for him to perform adequate gap surveys for missing information on wildlife occurrences in the subject area. He notes that many species standard survey protocols have seasonal guidelines and biologists are typically allowed one to two full seasons (years) to conduct their studies. This has not been the case here, where the process has been rushed by ATC.

Among other things, Dr. Casper's tentative finding of a federally endangered dragonfly in the study area is important but must be verified in the July-August flight season, which is only just beginning. As Dr. Casper notes in his testimony: "One solution to this out-of-synch information gathering would be for the project proponents [ATC] to withdraw the [proposed greenfield routing proposal] and simply use the existing right-of-way for the [a]lternative route."