Power line foes double down in ATC fight

The Responsible Energy Alliance, a grassroots coalition fighting against the extension of high-tension power lines to fuel the Vantage Data Centers Lighthouse Campus in Port Washington, isn’t letting a recent victory slow it down.

The organization is doubling down, taking steps to attain non-profit status and continue its fight against American Transmission Co.’s plan to extend power lines across swaths of the towns of Fredonia and Saukville, among others.

The group recently won a victory over ATC when the Public Service Commission rescinded its application for the power lines because the utility had made too many changes for the document to be considered complete.

“We’re in the waiting game right now, waiting to see what ATC is going to do,” Patti Plough, a leader of the alliance, said. “You hear rumors, but we’re just waiting and watching.”

“I’m not anti-progress. I just think there needs to be regulations and guardrails so we can do it responsibly.”

And that, she said, includes using existing routes for transmission lines when possible — something codified in Wisconsin statutes.

“We’ve told them (ATC) they just need to stay away from greenfield routes. If you use existing routes, we go away,” Plough said.

In a press release, the alliance said it views the PSC’s revocation of the completeness finding as “vindication of the concerns it raised over many months about the sufficiency and accuracy of ATC’s application and underlying environmental review and cultural heritage issues.”

Establishing the alliance as a nonprofit group committed to fighting to protect greenfield areas from transmission lines will allow people to make tax exempt donations that will help offset the alliance’s growing legal costs, Plough said.

She noted that at a fundraising event last month the organization made half as much money as it did in all of 2025 — something she credited to the PSC decision.

The effort could be bolstered again this week. The Fredonia Town Board was expected to host a meeting of the electors at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9, to authorize a $5,000 donation to the alliance.

The donation was approved by the Town  Board in August, with Supr. Eric Schmitz calling the alliance’s efforts against ATC a “David and Goliath situation.”

“It’s exciting to see the town stand behind us,” Plough said. 

To help gear up for the anticipated fight ahead, the alliance is seeking commitments from the gubernatorial candidates that they will oppose greenfield transmission lines when existing routes are available.

“We’re working to get ahead of the election and get involved with the candidates,” Plough said.  

In addition to fighting the extension of power lines across greenfields, the alliance also intends to oppose any use of eminent domain by ATC to place the lines.

“REA believes that this use of eminent domain power is unconstitutional and is expanding its mandate to challenge it,” the group said in a press release, arguing that the power to condemn and take land isn’t allowed for private use, only public use, and ATC is a private entity.

Plough said, “Our precious open lands are valuable to all of us and deserve protection from unnecessary development.”