April 9, 2026
By TIM HUNDT
VERNON COUNTY, Wis. – Vernon County officials are actively exploring a joint legal defense with neighboring counties to fight a massive high voltage transmission line proposed to cut through the Driftless region. The Vernon County General Government Committee used its April 1 meeting to hear updates from the county attorney on the feasibility of pooling resources with Crawford and Richland counties to hire expert legal counsel.
The discussion builds on momentum from the March 19 Vernon County Board of Supervisors meeting where the full board unanimously passed resolutions formally opposing the 765 kilovolt project known as the Maribell line. The project is being developed by Dairyland Power Cooperative and NextEra Transmission. Because local governments cannot simply pass an ordinance banning the utility project county officials are preparing to formally intervene in the upcoming Public Service Commission hearings.
During the April 1 meeting Corporation Counsel Nikki Swayne updated the committee on her progress reaching out to neighboring legal counsels about retaining an expert attorney to represent their shared interests. Swayne reported that she had contacted both Crawford and Richland counties to pitch the idea of an initial joint consultation.
“I have reached out to them and one has confirmed that they will talk with their county and circle back to me,” said Swayne. “The other has not gotten back to me yet but I expect probably will relatively soon”.
Swayne warned the committee that while a joint legal effort makes financial sense it could complicate matters if the Public Service Commission approves a route that benefits one county while heavily burdening another. Swayne explained that if the interests of the counties diverge they would need to sign conflict waivers or potentially hire separate legal representation down the road.
“Where that could become concerning theoretically is if say there is a route that Vernon County sees that the Commission may approve that would narrow the impact on Vernon County but enhance the impact on a neighboring county,” said Swayne. “Then that is going to be the kind of conflict where we are not going to have the same attorney representatives for purposes of an initial consultation”.
Supervisor Wayde Lawler shared that he had recently spoken with a local resident who has extensive experience dealing with utility interventions and learned that the counties face specific legal limitations on how they can file their opposition.
“The three counties would not be able to officially intervene as one unit,” said Lawler. “We would need to do so as legal entities”.
Despite the requirement to file as separate entities Lawler argued that sharing the consultation process and appearing before the state regulators together would send a powerful message that the region stands united against the utility developers.
“If the three counties were to intervene officially that would be rather unprecedented in the state before the PSC and in a good way,” said Lawler. “That would be a significant demonstration of public will in opposition to the project”.
Swayne confirmed that while they cannot legally join together to qualify for intervener status it does not prevent the counties from being highly productive by joining forces outside of the formal filings.
General Government Committee Chair Alycann Taylor fully supported the aggressive multi-layered approach to fighting the transmission lines.
The push to intervene formally stems from discussions held during the March 4 General Government Committee meeting. During that prior meeting Swayne advised the committee that filing public comments is often the least impactful way to influence the Public Service Commission. Swayne strongly recommended that the county file a motion to intervene to gain standing as an official party to the case.
“File a formal request after the application is submitted and this case is created with the Commission,” said Swayne. “When you do that you become a party to this action that gives you a lot of ability that you do not otherwise have”.
Swayne noted during the March 4 meeting that intervening allows the county to file sworn testimony, engage expert witnesses and demand that developers produce documents through the legal discovery process.
The General Government Committee agreed to keep the potential joint legal venture on their future agendas as Swayne waits to hear back from the neighboring county attorneys regarding their willingness to share the costs of the legal consultation.
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