American Transmission Company just got slapped upside the head by FERC in the Order that came out Friday.  ATC claimed that IT was the owner of Badger-Coulee, the extension of CapX 2020 transmission from La Crosse to Madison (dashed line):

It’s the part of CapX that we know is connected, it’s a part of CapX that the Minnesota PUC’s ALJ’s Heydinger (Certificate of Need) and Sheehy (Hampton-LaX routing in MN) wouldn’t let us address in the dockets even though it’s obviously part of the plan, always has been, and it was demonstrated in the Wisconsin PSC proceeding that Hampton-LaX doesn’t do anything noteworthy without Badger-Coulee… and so during that Wisconsin hearing, Xcel Energy finally admitted the “necessity” of Badger-Coulee to its CapX plans:

So here’s what FERC had to say, that Xcel Energy wins, in technicolor:

Order Granting Complaint (FERC’s language!)

Statement from FERC Chair Norris

Bottom line:

We disagree with American Transmission’s argument that MISO does not have the authority to require American Transmission to share the La Crosse-Madison Line with Xcel. Under the Tariff, MISO is responsible for approving a regional expansion plan that designates the transmission owners responsible for particular facilities.¹ In similar vein, Wisconsin Commission avers that Wisconsin state law controls the ownership of the La Crosse-Madison Line. Although we do not dispute Wisconsin Commission’s statement that a prospective builder must receive a CPCN in order to build transmission facilities in Wisconsin, the issue before the Commission is whether the Transmission Owners Agreement requires American Transmission and Xcel to share responsibility for the La Crosse-Madison Line and whether MISO has appropriately exercised its designation authority in a manner consistent with the Transmission Owners Agreement and the Tariff – not whether a prospective builder must receive a CPCN in order to build transmission facilities in Wisconsin. We find that the Transmission Owners Agreement does require MISO transmission owners to share responsibility for interconnecting facilities and that MISO has exercised its designation authority in accordance with the Transmission Owners Agreement and the Tariff in designating both American Transmission and Xcel as the parties responsible for the La Crosse-Madison Line.