CU project controversy

The CU Project Controversy involved years of protest against a proposed high-voltage direct current powerline that was erected on the property of hundreds of farmers in west central Minnesota in the late 1970s. The electrical cooperatives Cooperative Power Association (CPA) and United Power Association (UPA) proposed construction of the powerline, which was part of a larger construction project that also involved the construction of an electrical generating station and coal mine. CU is a combination of the names Cooperative Power Association and United Power Association. Opposition to the powerline began in 1974 and involved political parties, churches, civic organizations, and businesses in several different Minnesota counties. Farmers were concerned that construction of the powerline on their land might make farming difficult, reduce the value of the land, or adversely impact their health. The powerline was reviewed in 33 meetings in North Dakota and 48 meetings in Minnesota and in two years of hearings; at the time, no other powerline in Minnesota state history had gone through such a drawn-out review process. Multiple candidates for state office included the powerline issue as part of their platforms. Farmers employed tractors, manure spreaders, and ammonia sprayers and used direct action and civil disobedience in an attempt to prevent construction of the line. Powerline protests drew national attention when over 200 state troopers, nearly half the Minnesota Highway Patrol, were deployed to ensure that construction of the line would continue. During a two-year period, a group of opponents to the line who called themselves "bolt weevils" tore down 14 powerline towers and shot out nearly 10,000 electrical insulators.

The CU Powerline Project was initiated by Cooperative Power Association (CPA) of Edina, Minnesota and United Power Association (UPA) of Elk River, Minnesota. CPA and UPA were Minnesota electrical generation and transmission associations of a combined total of 34 retail electrical co-ops. Retail electrical co-ops developed following the establishment of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935 and the Rural Electrification Act in 1936. The REA began to distribute loans to groups involved in increasing access to electricity in the rural United States. Retail electrical co-ops formed in order to be eligible for the REA's distribution loans. Co-ops often combined in federations to purchase power from private utilities or federal agencies. Occasionally these co-op associations built their own generating stations.

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