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The Lindstrom-Xcel Energy Agreement relating to a route through downtown Lindstrom for a powerline rebuild has been officially approved by the Public Utilities Commission. Final route adoption for this segment had been pending while the PUC reviewed an agreement reached in negotiations between the power company and city officials on the segment through downtown.

The agreement (story May 22 Press) allows for distribution lines to be buried between the main transmission corridor on First, and the customer-- cleaning up the above-ground appearance of the transmission system by allowing Xcel to go to smaller diameter poles and fewer overhead lines. Xcel and Lindstrom had talked about burying a line along Newell Ave. but the project was determined to be cost-prohibitive.

With this action the PUC has designated and issued an High Voltage Transmission Line route permit for the Chisago Transmission Project from Lindstrom to Taylors Falls. David Birkholz, Office of Energy Security (formerly Commerce Dept.) said there is a 30-day appeals period while this PUC decision is published in The Monitor (a state environmental agency publication). Presuming no legal opposition to the route is filed with an appeals court, Xcel is free to begin work on the project after early September.

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