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Looking for help

By Staff | Aug 31, 2012

FORT DODGE – Clean Lines Energy, based in Houston, Texas, rolled into Fort Dodge Tuesday morning to establish contacts with area contractors for when the company begins construction of a 500-mile, high-voltage, direct-current electric power line from Osceola County to Davenport.

The $1.7 billion, 3,500-megawatt transmission line is expected to pass through, or close to, Webster County. Beth Conley, regional outreach manager for Clean Lines, said the company is still working out details of the power line’s route, seeking construction permits and utility authorizations, however it’s confident the two-year project will begin in 2014.

Conley said a variety of services will be needed including surveying, flaggers, storage, brush clearing, transportation for heavy equipment, concrete supplies and contractors, road and farm field restoration, catering, restaurants and hotel accomodations.

Conley said she was pleased with Tuesday’s reception where 25 to 30 people attended at the Fort Dodge Country Club. She said Clean Lines needed to assess what services were available. Clean Lines general contractor is Kiewit Corp., of Omaha, Neb.

The line could potentially boost tax revenues for the counties of O’Brien, Cherokee, Clay, Buena Vista, Hancock, Franklin, Webster, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Palo Alto, Kossuth, Wright, Hamilton, Hardin and Marshall at a stated rate of $7,000 per mile per year.