"Terra" in my neighborhood

Well, not exactly in my neighborhood, but pretty close. And probably not terror, but maybe civil disobedience in very poor taste. It centers around some bolts:

A $10,000 reward has been offered for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for toppling two electrical transmission towers that knocked out power to Mitchell International Airport and 17,000 area residents over the weekend.

Investigators said someone with an ordinary wrench could have removed the 2-inch long bolts that led to the collapse, but still weren't sure exactly what caused the loosened tower to fall.

Our power flickered Saturday, but it didn't go out, so I guess we were lucky.

I'm willing to bet that the wrench-wielders were not intending to knock out power to the airport, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone was trying to make a statement. The transmission towers that were toppled were owned by American Transmission Company, based nearby in West Allis. ATC is the compant planning the Arrowhead-Weston transmission line project from Duluth, MN, to Wausau, WI, cutting through thousands of acres of pristine forest. And a number of groups just don't like the idea of that.

These include Wisconsin Stewardhip Network, Save Our Unique Lands (SOUL), and Clean Wisconsin (more here). What's wrong with power lines?, you may ask. Well, Clean Wisconsin notes,

The Wisconsin Public Service Corporation of Green Bay and Minnesota Power of Duluth are planning to run a 150 foot transmission line 250 miles from Duluth, Minnesota to Wausau, Wisconsin. In addition to cutting into Wisconsin's already diminishing farmland and wildlife habitat, the likely sources of power supplying the line are also of great concern.

One likely source of power is older, dirtier coal-fired power plants from Minnesota and the Dakotas. Increasing reliance on these upwind power plants will increase air pollution that causes breathing problems like asthma attacks and premature deaths. Coal power plants are responsible for 9340 asthma attacks and 448 premature deaths in Wisconsin every year. Coal plants are also the biggest source of mercury emissions in Wisconsin. According to the National Academy of Sciences, some 60,000 U.S. children are born every year whose health and school performance may be damaged by mercury poisoning.

Another likely source of energy for the transmission line is cheap Canadian hydro power. Many utilities claim that hydroelectric power is cleaner than coal plants and safer than nuclear plants. However, the experience in Cross Lake, Manitoba, home to the Jenpeg dam, is that dams destroy fisheries and hunting grounds. Dams have contaminated the remaining fish and wildlife with toxic mercury caused by flood erosion. Together these factors have destroyed the indigenous way of life in Cross Lake, Manitoba.

Tom Kreager, one of the founders of SOUL, goes further:

If it were built, the Arrowhead Weston transmission line would be the largest transmission project in the United States. The line is slated to run from Duluth to Wausau. Its real purpose is to allow the movement of electricity from the Dakotas and Canada to Chicago and beyond as part of the deregulated Enron-inspired plan visualized by the state’s utility companies. Our land would be used to house a transmission line that would mean big utility company profits from the sale of bulk electricity.

The utilities also planned to use eminent domain for fiber optics that would be leased to third parties. This would all mean big profits for some private companies, but would cost some landowners 10-50 percent in property depreciation. [. . . T]he project that the utility companies considered a “sure bet” in May 1999, and expected to be operational by 2002, is treading on thin ice. Its projected costs have soared from $165 million to more than $400 million.

That $400 million comes out of Wisconsinites' pockets through higher utility fees, so even those of us whose land isn't being Iminent-Domained are not exactly pleased. Most of us wouldn't bother taking a wrench to a transmission tower, though. But I'm betting somebody did.

Now, this is a connection that the local media haven't made yet, that I'm aware of, so if this turns out to be the case, I get props, 'kay?

Oh, and how long do you think until Ashcroft starts issuing subpenas to make Ace Hardware hand over their receipts for wrenches?