Oconto County and the town of Morgan each will receive a one-time $336,555 impact payment when the North Appleton-Morgan power line goes into service in 2019, the American Transmission Co. announced last week.
The funds are earmarked for environmental purposes, unless the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, which approved the 345-kilovolt line last month, grants an exception.
“There are strings attached,” said Kevin Hamann, the county’s administrative coordinator, “but I’m sure we’ll find a use for the money.”
The county received an impact payment of just under $200,000 in 2007 when another 345-kV line was built terminating at the Morgan substation. The county used the money to repair a dam in Chute Pond County Park and other smaller dams, Hamann said.
Since the funding is not payable until the line is energized, there has not been any discussion on how it would be spent, County Board Chairman Lee Rymer said.
“It’s a huge amount of money. … We’ll look at it and use it according to how the state allows,” he said.
Although the county’s annual operating budget totals $45 million, the one-time $336,555 payment would be “welcomed,” Hamann said.
In addition to the one-time payment, the town of Morgan will also receive a $40,387 annual payment without restrictions on how it can be spent.
“On roads, we spend $100,000 to $130,000 a year. … The $336,000 is a lot of money and the $40,000 a year will help, too,” said Fran Wranosky, town chairman.
The town receives the annual payment throughout the life of the power line.
Until he sees the check, Wranosky does not anticipate discussing how it would be spent.
“We’ll wait and see what comes in,” he said.
A call to town clerk Char Borghese about the amount of money the town collects in annual property tax and how much it receives in payments from the existing Weston-Morgan line was not returned by deadline.
Like most power line projects, the North Appleton-Morgan project caused controversy, upset landowners in its path and caused concern for other residents. Neither the town nor the county took a position on the need for the power line or its route.
“I think a lot of the concern was due to people wanting to know where it would go. Once ATC held meetings and got that information out, it helped a great deal,” Hamann said.
In a statement released when the PSC authorized construction, ATC said the project was needed to improve service in the area.
The North Appleton–Morgan project “represents a major step forward in strengthening the electric transmission grid in northeastern Wisconsin,” said David Hovde, senior local relations representative for ATC. “We will continue to work with landowners and other interested parties as we move into the construction phase of the project.”
Payments to municipalities along the 45-mile power line route are apportioned according to how much of the power line crosses each township.
The cost of the new 345-kV line was approved at $178,680,000. Only 3.4 miles, or 7.5 percent of the line, crosses towns in Oconto County, yielding payments based on the 7.5 percent of the project’s cost. Enlarging the 12-acre substation in the town of Morgan by one-half acre to accommodate the new lines also adds to the payments the town receives.
In addition to constructing a 345-kV line, a 178-kV line will be constructed within in the same corridor.
The lines will be strung between the substation in the town of Morgan and a substation in the town of Freedom in Outagamie County.
The Morgan substation is located a few miles southwest of Oconto Falls just west of County Road C.
The lines will extend south from the Morgan substation crossing state Highway 32 north of County E, then west into Shawano County until reaching an existing power line corridor. The lines will extend south along the corridor to the city of Pulaski.
Transmission line poles are typically 85 feet tall on 138-kV lines and 120 feet on 345-kV lines.
Under state code, substations and 345-kV lines generate one-time and annual payments; 178-kV lines do not.
ATC has said property owners will be contacted this month regarding obtaining easements, and construction will begin in the summer of 2016 and be completed in 2019.
ATC estimates the total project cost at $327 million.
