Matt Langan and Randy Fordice of Xcel Energy answered questions from Lyon County Commissioners on Tuesday. Two proposed routes for a new electric transmission line in the region are under review by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.

MARSHALL — Another round of public meetings will be held next week on a proposed Xcel Energy transmission line running from Sherburne County to Lyon County. Xcel representatives said meetings will be held in both Granite Falls and Marshall on Jan. 24, as part of the state’s review process on the proposal.

“It provides landowners opportunity . . . both to ask questions about the process of the project, as well as tell the state, ‘Here’s what we want you to study,'” said Xcel spokesperson Randy Fordice. Members of the public can also suggest alternate routes for the state to study during an Environtmental Impact Statement (EIS) scoping process, he said.

Lyon County Commissioners heard an update on the proposed transmission line project Tuesday. Xcel representatives last spoke to the county board in October, as Xcel was getting ready to apply for state permits for the project.

“We’ve come back now that we have routes, in the form of the route permit application, to discuss those with you and then talk about the process moving forward as we get into the state review,” Fordice said.

Xcel is proposing to build a 345-kilovolt electric transmission line running from a grid connection outside of Becker to a proposed new substation near Garvin. The project would allow Xcel to connect to wind energy sources in southwest Minnesota, as it plans to shut down the coal-fired Sherco power plant.

Fordice said the project needs two permits from the state, a certificate of need and a route permit. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is reviewing both of the transmission line project’s permit applications at the same time.

“That will really kick off next week when we’ll be participating in Environmental Impact Statement scoping meetings, that the state of Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission and Department of Commerce lead,” Fordice said.

The meetings Jan. 24 will include an hour-long “pre-meeting” where people can talk to Xcel representatives and ask questions. Fordice said the state will also hold a short presentation about the proposed project, followed by a question and comment period that will be recorded by a court reporter. A written comment period will also be open until Feb. 21, he said.

Xcel has included two proposed routes for the transmission line in its route permit application, dubbed the “Purple Route” and the “Blue Route” to distinguish them on maps.

“The state does require that we propose two options in any route permit application,” Foridce said.

The two routes take different paths through southwest and south central Minnesota. The Purple Route in an option that would travel through Lyon County for a longer distance, passing west of Cottonwood and then east of Marshall before ending at the proposed Garvin substation. The Blue Route would approach Lyon County from the east, passing near Amiret before turning south toward Garvin.

“We asked for and received a lot of feedback from landowners, local governments, stakeholders and interested parties throughout the nearly two years that we were working on developing this project,” Fordice said. He said about 150,000 people had been notified during the process of narrowing down route options, and Xcel received comments from about 750 individuals.

County commissioners raised questions about how landowners would be able to communicate with the state during the EIS process. Fordice said the state was notifying landowners of the review process by mail, and through advertisements in the newspapers of record in each county affected by the project.

“A lot of landowners don’t take the paper, and sometimes your mails just get thrown away because they don’t know what’s in it,” Commissioner Rick Anderson said. “I think what landowners are saying to me is that they would really like to talk to you, now that you’ve drawn lines on a map.”

“I think the next step, a key step is communication,” said Commissioner Gary Crowley.

“The Blue Route, for me, is probably a better route that has less impact on the county. But that’s where I get the most complaints about not being able to have any conversation,” Anderson said. Anderson said he had heard from farmers near the Blue Route, that they hadn’t heard anything about the proposal. “I think that’s the area you have to work on,” he told Xcel representatives.

EIS scoping meetings will be held at the Kilowatt Community Center in Granite Falls, and at the EverSpring Inn conference center in Marshall, on Jan. 24. Fordice said the pre-meeting hour would start at 10 a.m. in Granite Falls, with the meeting starting at 11 a.m.

In Marshall, the pre-meeting hour would start at 5 p.m., with the meeting starting at 6 p.m.