Meetings to help landowners potentially affected by construction of the 765 kilivolt (kV) MariBell Transmission Line have been held recently in Retreat, Viola and Ferryville.

A meeting will be held in Gays Mills at the Community Commerce Center on Saturday, Feb. 7, starting at 10 a.m. This meeting is also intended primarily for potentially affected landowners.

Since there are many members of the community that are not likely to be personally affected, but have heard about it and have questions, a public information meeting has also been planned. That meeting will take place on Sunday, Feb. 22, starting at 1 p.m., at the Community Commerce Center.

If constructed, MariBell will run from Marion, Minn., across the river at Genoa, and then travel along existing 161 kV transmission line easements through Vernon and Crawford counties to the Bell Center Substation. It will be the largest transmission line ever constructed in Wisconsin. Tower height will increase from 70 feet to almost 200 feet, and easement widths from 100 feet to between 200-250 feet.

From Bell Center, as recently announced, another developer (Transource) will continue the line to the Columbia Substation near Portage, and then south to the Illinois state line. This project is referred to as BECI. It is likely, but not yet confirmed by Transource, that this line will also travel along existing 161 kV or 69 kV transmission line easements.