A Dakota County court ruling last week means Xcel won't get the automatic conditional use permit for a power line upgrade it had sought, and must go through the city's planning commission and City Council for the permits. Vocal opponents of the power line now plan to gear up their campaign again.

The decision is the latest chapter in the energy company's quest to expand its power line. In 1999, Northern States Power (now Xcel) applied for a conditional use permit to expand an existing transmission line and to complete work at a substation. The line starts in Newport and extends through South St. Paul, Inver Grove Heights, Sunfish Lake, Mendota Heights, Bloomington and beyond.

Xcel wants to rebuild its 115 kilovolt power line on new, taller poles and add an additional circuit to help offset potential power failures. The company said growing customer energy use would bring shortages in the southeast metro area without expansion. The first phase was expected to take six months and cost $5 million.

Xcel officials said they were not prepared to comment on the case late Tuesday afternoon.

The issue is likely to go before the Mendota Heights planning commission early next year. The requests will eventually end up before the Mendota Heights City Council, regardless of the commission's recommendation. Mendota Heights' planning commission originally denied the permit, but the City Council agreed last year to participate in a regional steering committee to collect data, not make recommendations. Consultants were brought in to consider the environmental impact of the power lines; public forums allowed residents to express their concerns. The study measured health hazards, levels of electromagnetic fields and route alternatives.

"People have an interest in this issue," said Mayor Charles Mertensotto. "Let's let that process go through."

The city has three options: approve the line as proposed by Xcel, request the line be buried, or deny the permit request.

South St. Paul had sought to have the line buried and have the extra cost spread over rate payers systemwide. In October, however, the city settled a suit Xcel brought against it. The agreement stipulates that if Mendota Heights and Sunfish Lake get more favorable terms in their arrangements with Xcel, South St. Paul will get the same terms.

Should Mendota Heights deny the request, theoretically that could stop the line dead in its tracks. Re-routing is possible from an engineering standpoint, but would be much more expensive for the company. Xcel, however, could go to the state Legislature to seek relief from the decision.

Sunfish Lake resident Roger Conant, a member of the Power Line Task Force that has long opposed the power line, said his group would renew its efforts to persuade city governments not to let Xcel rebuild the line.

"We will provide what we believe is extensive documentation that demonstrates that these lines are dangerous to health," said Conant.

State health department officials say evidence does not show that exposure to electromagnetic fields is a health hazard, but they are monitoring the issue.