The Power Line Task Force, a citizens' group fighting Xcel Energy's plan to expand a high-voltage transmission line through the Twin Cities' southeast suburbs, filed suit Wednesday to stop construction on the project.

Xcel plans to upgrade a single-circuit 115-kilovolt line to a double-circuit 115-kilovolt line along the existing 14.7 mile route. The suit, filed in Hennepin County District Court, claims that Xcel has not obtained a required certificate of need from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission or a permit from the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board.

Those requirements were part of a state law that took effect in August 2001, said attorney Marshall Tanick, who is representing the task force. "We think the law clearly requires power lines of this length and capacity to get approval from both agencies," he said.

Xcel spokesman Ed Legge said those issues were considered in a previous suit to force the city of Sunfish Lake to issue a permit for the proj ect, and that the decision went in Xcel's favor. In that decision, Dakota County District Judge Rex Stacey ruled that because Xcel applied for approval of the project before the 2001 law took effect, the law did not apply.

"The city settled and issued a permit, and that's why [the line] is under construction now," Legge said, adding that Xcel's attorneys "are working on an appropriate response" to the new suit.