LINCOLN -- On a 3-2 vote, the Nebraska Power Review Board late Friday approved construction of a controversial, high-voltage transmission line from Axtell, Neb., southward to the Kansas state line.
Local residents had complained that the $83 million project would benefit Kansas mostly, and wasn't needed by the State of Nebraska.
But officials with the Nebraska Public Power District, which will build the line, argued that the state needed a third, major route to transfer electric power to Kansas, and that building the Axtell line would allow NPPD to sell more power to other states, thus keeping rates in Nebraska low.
The Power Review Board voted after an afternoon-long public hearing in Lincoln.
Construction on the line is expected to begin in late 2011, with completion eyed in December of 2012.
The line will extend southward to Spearville, Kan., the location of a large wind farm.
NPPD is scheduled to pay one-third of the cost, with utilities in the nine-state Southwest Power Pool to pay the rest of the cost. NPPD, the Omaha Public Power District and the Lincoln Electric System are members of that pool.
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