NO SOUTH ROUTE! That was the battle cry of a large group of Hoagland residents on Wednesday night, September 23rd at an I&M Open House held at the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne from 5:00-7:00 p.m. The group anticipated that they would be able to ask questions of I&M representatives in an open forum setting. They wanted the entire group of attendees to hear the questions and I&M’s replies. Instead, I&M created a very long, slowly moving, line of some 1,000 people that formed all the way out to the parking lot.
There was still a long line at 7:00 p.m. Attendees had to sign in, then visit 12 open “stations”. There were poster-sized, printouts of information that was already available on their Lulu-Sorenson website. No open forum was offered, and no real questions, such as “on what specific parameters will you base your decision?” and “what factors will lead you to choose the final route?” were answered.
The proposed Lulu-Sorenson project would add about 75 miles of new 765-kV transmission line between the Sorenson Substation near the General Motors plant in Huntington County to a location near the Indiana-Michigan state line. An online map shows the proposed routes the new towers could take. They have marked some 70 “study segments” along the proposed route. No final decisions have been made. Their website encourages residents living along the segments to give their feedback to I&M officials. They encouraged everyone to send them any information on their affected property (such as woods, ponds, livestock, structures, etc.) to: Indiana and Michigan 833-441-2260 [email protected] or Delia Makhetha 877-605-5554 [email protected] by October 9, 2026. The final route decision will be announced before the end of the year…