Dive Brief:
- A Minnesota judge has ruled the perceived negative impacts of a high-voltage transmission line trump the opinions of experts in some siting cases.
- Five utilities seeking to construct a 250-mile, 345-kV line from Brookings, South Dakota, to Hampton, Minnesota, will need to purchase all of the Cedar Summit Farm for the project to go forward.
- The case is a test of Minnesota's Buy the Farm law, which requires utilities to purchase all of a property if it will be negatively impacted by a utility project.
Dive Insight:
Experts have largely ruled out negative health impacts from transmission lines, but a Minnesota judge used the perception of their health effects as the basis for a ruling earlier this month.
Cedar Summit Farm is Minnesota's only 100% grass-fed dairy farm and the owners stressed that the planned Brookings-to-Hampton line could hurt the farm's production and image — especially because about 10% of the farm's revenue stream comes from local events. But it was the second argument, regarding public perception of the farm and the perceived impacts of transmission lines, that the judge focused on in an August 7 ruling.
The easement for the project makes up a fairly small portion of Cedar Summit Farms, just 0.53%. But because of Minnesota's Buy the Farm law, the utilities will have to purchase the entire farm, which the owners say is valued at around $1.4 million.
The judge determined that the owners' subjective concerns about the transmission line influenced their decision to elect the entire property for sale under the Buy the Farm law, "which is of paramount importance to the Court's decision. Therefore, the court disregarded the expert testimony ... as it pertained to the documentable risks of the [high-voltage transmission line]."
