ST. PAUL (AP) — The proposed Big Stone II power plant suffered a major setback Friday when two administrative law judges recommended against allowing transmission lines from the plant to be built across west-central Minnesota.

If the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission accepts that recommendation, the project could be doomed, said Dan Sharp, a spokesman for the five utilities that are seeking to build the plant.

“The transmission lines are critical and unless we can build the transmission lines in Minnesota, the project can’t go,” Sharp said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Services has approved sending more than $12.9 in federal money to various agricultural producers in Minnesota’s Seventh District through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

Could wind power be in Hutchinson Utilities’ future? A motion by the city-owned company’s governing board last week to begin a preliminary study is the first baby step toward that potential goal.

The Utilities Commission authorized a $26,000 study by Geronimo Wind Energy that will analyze the feasibility of Utilities pursuing construction of a wind turbine development in the Hutchinson area. The work will take about two or three months.

The Hutchinson Utilities Commission has received an Outstanding Partnership award from the Minnesota Shade Tree Advisory Committee.

The April 24 presentation took place at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen. Utilities’ General Manager Michael Kumm and conservation coordinator Jon Guthmiller accepted the award from the MnSTAC President Ken Simons.