{"id":3654,"date":"2026-08-18T20:06:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/?post_type=pew-projects&#038;p=3654"},"modified":"2026-08-22T22:47:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T22:47:23","slug":"stray-voltage-lacrosse-wi-2001-partners","status":"publish","type":"pew-projects","link":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/pew-projects\/stray-voltage-lacrosse-wi-2001-partners\/","title":{"rendered":"Stray Voltage, LaCrosse, WI 2001  Partners:"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, sans-serif, arial;\">La Crosse Tribune<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, sans-serif, arial;\">This project examined the hazards of stray voltage &#8211; electrical current that leaks from power lines &#8211; for farms and livestock through a series of newspaper stories and a dedicated Web site that drew comments and questions from around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, sans-serif, arial;\">The stories, looking at causes, effects and possible solutions of stray voltage, were denounced by utility companies, who tried to pressure the Tribune by going directly to the editorial board to complain and even questioning the Pew Center about its support of the project. But the project was embraced by farmers and some public officials. The Michigan Attorney General included several of the stories as evidence in legal action against the state&#8217;s second largest utility. The Wisconsin Rural Energy Management Council invited reporter Chris Hardie to display his story and answer questions on the subject as part of its research for the state legislature.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, sans-serif, arial;\">The project won five Wisconsin journalism awards and the Web site\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20060927083905\/http:\/\/www.strayvoltage.org\/\">www.strayvoltage.org<\/a>\u00a0generated daily traffic for years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, sans-serif, arial;\"><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #0033cc; font-family: helvetica, sans-serif, arial;\"><strong>Contact:<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, sans-serif, arial;\">Chris Hardie<br \/>\nLocal News Editor<br \/>\nLa Crosse Tribune<br \/>\n401 North 3rd St.<br \/>\nLa Crosse, WI 54601<br \/>\nPhone: (608) 791-8218<br \/>\nEmail:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20060927083905\/mailto:chardie@lacrossetribune.com\">chardie@lacrossetribune.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3669,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"pew-categories":[144,145,130,181],"class_list":["post-3654","pew-projects","type-pew-projects","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","pew-categories-144","pew-categories-145","pew-categories-economy","pew-categories-wisconsin"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pew-projects\/3654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pew-projects"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pew-projects"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"pew-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pew-categories?post=3654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}