IUB approves Soo Green Line franchise
The Iowa Utilities Board this week issued an order approving a petition for a franchise to construct, maintain, and operate a new electric transmission line in Iowa that will be called the Soo Green Line.
The Soo Green transmission line project involves installing 174 miles of 525 kilovolt underground high voltage direct current electric transmission line that will cross 8 counties in Iowa, including Cerro Gordo and Floyd, and will continue into Illinois.
All but 18 miles of Soo Green’s transmission line route will be located on the private rights-of-way of the railroad alignment owned in various forms by the Canadian Pacific Railroad.
This week’s order finds that the proposed line is necessary to serve a public use and represents a reasonable relationship to an overall plan of transmitting electricity in the public interest. The order also found that vesting Soo Greene with the right of eminent domain is necessary for public use, and was granted on a total of 6 parcels of land.
