Supervisors decline to formally oppose RICL

GRUNDY CENTER — A group of landowners attempting to stop the construction of the Rock Island Clean Line project that would run through northern and easterm Grundy County received some bad news Monday morning when the county’s Board of Supervisors declined to file a formal objection with the Iowa Utilities Board by a narrow 3-2 vote.
    The issue of the RICL has been a lightning rod for controversy since it was first announced that Clean Line Energy Partners, the private company behind the project, would attempt to use eminent domain to acquire land on which to build a power corridor on farmland running from Granville, Iowa, to Morris, Ill. The line would pass near Stout, Dike and Reinbeck while transmitting electricity created by wind energy to the Chicago area. Eric Andersen and Ted Junker, who have been two of the most vocal leaders in the anti-RICL movement, claimed at Monday’s meeting that more than 90 percent of Grundy County residents oppose the project. A pair of supervisors, Chuck Bakker and Mark Schildroth, also expressed strong support for filing an objection with the IUB and voted in favor of the move.
 
For more of this story see the March 11 Grundy Register.