Special joint meeting — 765 kV powerline
Monday, August 10, 2026 · 6:30 p.m.
Courthouse, 2nd Floor Commission Room, Clear Lake
Deuel County Zoning & Planning Commission special meeting, held jointly with the Deuel County Commission. Item #4 on the agenda is the 765 kV powerline.
- You can do both on the 10th. Milbank to Clear Lake is about half an hour — Grant at four, Deuel at half past six.
What the line is
Xcel Energy and Otter Tail Power’s “PowerOn Midwest – South Dakota,” under MISO Tranche 1 and 2.1 — a 765 kV line from the Big Stone plant south to Brookings and east into southern Minnesota. Structures 150 to 175 ft tall and 140 to 150 ft wide, on a 250 ft right-of-way. Construction projected 2030 to 2034. It needs South Dakota PUC approval as well as county approvals.
Deuel has already raised the question
County minutes from 20 January 2026 record “queued natural generation requests in Deuel County totaling 1586 MW.” The same agenda carried “Moratorium on Incoming 765KV Transmission Lines.”
Residents asked in January and are still asking
The 6 January minutes list questions on route, light pollution, land prices, blackout risk, health, and “Why hasn’t there been a better system to notify residents?”
Prints three to a page, front and back — cut into thirds.