ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20136
No(s). 24-139-wmc (W.D. Wis. Sep 24, 2025) (Conley, J.)

A district court denied summary judgment for environmental groups in a lawsuit concerning a high-voltage transmission line project across Iowa and Wisconsin and through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The groups argued a land exchange agreement between FWS and two utility companies that granted the companies fee ownership over land within the refuge violated the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act (Refuge Act), the refuge's comprehensive conservation plan, and NEPA. The project was completed in 2024, and the groups sought to compel removal of the portion of the transmission line that now runs through the refuge. The court was sympathetic to the groups' arguments that FWS and the companies exploited a loophole in the Refuge Act that allowed completion of the project without FWS determining that it was compatible with the refuge and without more rigorous environmental review, but concluded they failed to show either the companies or the Service violated any laws. It denied the groups' motion and granted summary judgment for FWS and the companies.