Residents, landowners, and farmers from across southwest Minnesota will caravan 107 miles on Saturday, September 12, following the proposed route of a 765,000-volt transmission line through Pipestone, Murray, Nobles, and Jackson counties.
The caravan begins at the Welcome to Minnesota sign on Highway 14 at the South Dakota border, staging at 7:30 a.m. and rolling at 8:00 a.m. It will travel at 15 miles per hour and arrive at North City Park in Lakefield around 5:00 p.m.
The event is open to everyone, and no farm equipment is required. Tractors, semis, combines, and grain trucks will roll alongside pickups and cars. Residents are invited to join for a stretch or for the full route, and organizers say people without a vehicle in the caravan can simply come out in the towns along the way.
“You don’t need a tractor to be part of this,” said Ian Vogel, a Murray County resident organizing the caravan. “If all you do is stand on a corner in your town and be counted, that counts. This line doesn’t only run through farms. It runs through a whole part of the state, and everybody who lives here has a stake in it.”
The line is part of PowerOn Midwest, a project of Xcel Energy, ITC Midwest, Great River Energy, and Otter Tail Power. It is one segment of a 3,631-mile, $21.8 billion transmission portfolio approved by regional grid operator MISO in December 2024.
A Certificate of Need application is pending before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission in docket CN-25-117. Routes are still being refined, and a route permit application is expected in early 2027.
Residents along the route have raised concerns including: • Permanent loss and fragmentation of productive farmland and working farms
• Structures the applicants describe at 175 to 200 feet tall, requiring easements up to 250 feet wide
• Whether the project’s stated need has been demonstrated, and whether the benefit reaches the communities carrying the burden
• Property value and rural character impacts
• Effects on wildlife corridors and water resources
• Whether less damaging alternatives — existing corridors, lower voltages — received serious consideration Organizers are calling on the Public Utilities Commission and state elected officials to fully examine the demonstrated need for the project, ensure genuine public participation before a route is selected, and require serious analysis of less intrusive alternatives.
The caravan is a lawful, peaceful procession on public roads. Sheriff’s offices along the route have been notified.
Route maps, schedule, and further information are at stopthe765.com.
