WECA's Wisconsin Electric Cooperative News interviewed Dairyland EVP & COO Ben Porath and VP, External Affairs Jason Herbert for a feature an article, Billion Dollar Bill, A Change in State Law Would Ensure Wisconsin Ratepayers Benefit from Historic Transmission Projects, on the importance of the Wisconsin Right of First Refusal (ROFR) bill.

About ROFR: The bill would give Wisconsin's incumbent utilities, including Dairyland, the right of first refusal for key transmission projects. Without a ROFR bill in place, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) will select major transmission builders using a very time-consuming and expensive bidding process. This would also open up the process to out-of-state builders who are unfamiliar with Wisconsin and do not have the easements and agreements in place that incumbent utilities do.

Under ROFR, transmission builders must still use a competitive bidding process, are subject to approval by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin and must conduct extensive environmental reviews under state and federal permitting requirements.