Jan. 26—OLIVIA

— Landowners and others took advantage of their opportunity to raise questions and voice their concerns as the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and Department of Commerce hosted public hearings on

Xcel Energy's

request to build an estimated $1 billion high-voltage transmission from Lyon County in southwest Minnesota to its Sherco power site in Becker.

Hearings were held in locations ranging from Marshall and Redwood Falls to Granite Falls and Olivia this week.

Comments and questions raised during the public hearing on Thursday in Olivia ranged from the potential impacts on land values and agricultural operations to concerns about buzzing and noise from high-energy lines to whether the project is needed.

Has

Xcel Energy

considered building a new nuclear facility to replace the coal-fired Sherco plants that it will be decommissioning, asked Charlie Cunningham, who was among the more than 70 who attended the hearing. Upwards of 100 people attended hearings in

Marshall

and

Granite Falls

, according to Xcel.

Xcel is asking the Public Utilities Commission to approve a certificate of need for the project known as the

Minnesota Energy Connection

. It wants to build a double-circuit, 345-kilovolt transmission line from near Garvin, in Lyon County, to the Sherco site. The line would carry up to 2,000 megawatts of renewable energy from solar and wind farms to replace the electricity generated by the coal plants.

If the PUC approves the project, it will also approve one of two proposed routes for the line, each just under 175 miles in length. Many of the questions and comments at the Olivia hearing came from landowners along the potential routes.

The northern route follows parts of the recently built CAPX power line, which concerned Paul Sheggeby, who lives south of Granite Falls.

"Kind of paid my dues," he told the state agency representatives. He said the high-voltage line could impact land values.

Brian Greenslit, who farms in Renville County, already has a 110-kilovolt line about 245 yards from his home. On hot, humid days, he hears the loud buzzing and humming known as the corona effect from it. The proposed 345-kilovolt line is aligned 100 feet from his home, he said. He asked that its route be moved farther from his home.

These and other issues will be considered as regulators consider a route for the project if it is approved, according to Scott Ek with the Minnesota PUC.

The proposed line would be carried by 140-foot-tall, single steel poles spaced 1,000 feet apart. The height would minimize the buzzing that could be heard on those hot, humid days, according to Xcel's Jason Standing.