No ATC!!! Protect the Driftless
Imagine living in a scenic area, the land filled with rolling hills, waterfalls, rivers, creeks, valleys, and bluffs. The land littered with trees that go on for as far as the eye can see. A real life working black smith is your neighbor, a mill with a working water wheel, and angus roaming the pastures that fill in where the trees aren’t growing. Dotting the land are small farms, be it livestock or crops. All of this is all around you, your only issue is knowing that your cell phone service is spotty, but you don’t care because you have this amazing beauty right outside your front door.
I live in what’s called the Driftless Area, it is part of Wisconsin that was untouched by the glaciers that moved through Wisconsin during the last ice age. This area is not only home to these beautiful landscapes, but also American Players Theatre, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin, the House on the Rock, and Blue Mound and Governor Dodge state parks. Many come to the Driftless Area to see the natural beauty as well as the attractions that are there.
However, this might all change, the once serene area is subject of a huge debate that is called the ATC Line. It is a huge project that would have huge powerlines that run from Iowa all the way to Middleton, with a substation right in the heart of the driftless area. There would be huge towers, I am sure you have seen them other places, they are huge and an eye sore. Below is a map of the proposed area that the line would run.
Drive around the driftless area and you will see signs protesting this project. A project that not only will hurt the conservation in the area, but projected tourism. The animals that live naturally in the area flourish now, but with this project that will take years to build, they will find other areas to live, taking away from the natural beauty that is seen while driving along the many curvy back roads.
Though this project is now in court, people worry about what it will mean to the landscape and farming. What will happen to the animals and the beauty. The ecocentric ethical of this is that residents here value the land, it is untouched other than small farming towns and farms. It is beyond words living in this area; I am originally from Madison. I didn’t care about this project when I had first heard about it, I thought what’s the issue, why wouldn’t you want better powerlines that can help with blackouts and spotty cell service. But now that I live out here, now that I see the beauty that is all around me, I can see why these powerlines would be bad to the landscape and the environment. The ecosystems would be in danger because the animals would move on to other places leaving the land to change. Of course the formations wouldn’t, but some would because of the need to make room for the towers; blasting through beautiful bluffs and making room for the lines. If you were to drive down HWY 151 towards Iowa you can see what the blasting has done to just that area, you drive through a few of the rock formations that are there.
A friend of mine who is a farmer lost part of his land to the 151 HWY project already and faces losing more land because of the ATC project. Sure he was compensated nicely, but that doesn’t make up for the loss of valuable farm land that is needed to grow crops that helps feed the livestock that feed us.
Most people that live in the driftless area do not want this ATC to come in and destroy what nature has made. Must the residents all have bumper stickers that are against the project, if you see one, then you probably are seeing someone from this area. Most are part of the Driftless Defenders, a group that is fighting the ATC project, all the way to court. I am part of the Driftless Defenders, I believe that this line will hurt the ecosystem, take away from the beauty, impact farm land, and could even be harmful to humans.
Like many that live here, we want green alternatives to this line that won’t take away from the beauty we have here. In Cobb, Wisconsin there is a solar panel farm being built, it is a massive project, but it will bring in green energy something that this area wants. Drive through Montfort, Wisconsin and you will see many windmills on a windmill farm, this also brings in green energy. Sure they aren’t as beautiful to look at as the natural land, but they aren’t as big of an eye sore and damaging as the ATC line will be. Farmers sold their land to the green projects in hopes that it would keep the ATC from being built. But now it is all up to the courts to decide what happens to the Driftless area, something that scares me and worried that the courts will favor the ATC project over the conservation that is happening in the driftless area.
This is something that I am very into and against, I want to help save the driftless of Wisconsin. I love the curvy drives that I can take on the weekends with my daughter. My favorite is County Rd H, it is so beautiful and with the ATC pushing to be built, I fear that I won’t get to see the wildlife, the nature all around, or even bald eagles that fly through by the Wisconsin River.
Resources:
NoATC.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://noatc.com/
Driftless Defenders. (2021, January 23). Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://driftlessdefenders.com/
O’Neill, M. (2019, December 19). ‘Once it’s built, there’s no GOING back’. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.channel3000.com/once-its-built-theres-no-going-back-public-gives-input-on-atc-transmission-line-before-psc/
Lenehan, M. (2018, March 01). The Grid to Nowhere. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://isthmus.com/news/cover-story/argument-against-building-giant-transmission-lines/
