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United States court raises order obstructing $655 mln clean-energy transmission line

A U.S. appeals court on Thursday lifted a lower court's order obstructing a land exchange required before designers can construct a major cleanenergy transmission line through a Mississippi River wildlife refuge.

A three-judge panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stated a Wisconsin federal judge's initial injunction issued in March blocking deal with a last stretch of the Cardinal-Hickory Creek high voltage line, which has already cost designers $655 million, was not warranted.

The appeals court stated the lower court required to determine the 3 ecological groups that challenged the swap - the National Wildlife Sanctuary Association, Driftless Area Land Conservancy and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation - were most likely to prosper in their lawsuit, but did not do so.

The decision raises a major obstacle stopping designers ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative from clearcutting a path through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Haven for the power line, which would link Iowa and Wisconsin.

The ecological groups, which claimed in their lawsuit submitted in March that the land swap would unlawfully damage floodplains and fragment essential wildlife habitat, asked the Wisconsin court for a short-term limiting order hours after the 7th Circuit's decision. They likewise asked the 7th Circuit to remain its order so the lower court could review the problem.

The refuge needs to not be bulldozed before the conservation groups get their long-delayed reasonable day in court, Howard Learner, a lawyer for the groups, stated in a declaration.

A representative for the designers stated they are pleased with the court's choice, which they had actually requested for to avoid enforcing further unneeded hold-ups and additional expenses on this critically important job.

The U.S. Interior Department and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which authorized the land exchange, did not right away react to ask for remark.

The developers of the 102-mile (164 km) power line say the it will connect more than 160 renewable resource projects to the Midwestern energy grid when total.

The land exchange at the heart of the lawsuit was approved by the federal government in February and would swap around 20

(source: Reuters)