Four conservation groups – the National Wildlife Refuge Association, Driftless Area Land Conservancy, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and Defenders of Wildlife – prevailed in a January 14 Opinion by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. The detailed Opinion said federal agencies’ approval of ATC, ITC and Dairyland Power’s proposed 102-mile Cardinal-Hickory Creek (CHC) transmission line violated federal environmental laws designed to protect the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires full and fair consideration of reasonable alternatives that are less environmentally damaging and less costly.