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Advocacy group seeks reversal of power line decision

RETA asks AUC to reconsider decision on Heartland transmission line

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A non-profit group’s request for the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) to reconsider its approval of the Heartland transmission project brings to three the number of legal actions filed since the line was approved last year.

Following through on a statement it made in late November, Responsible Electricity Transmission for Albertans (RETA) has asked the AUC to revisit its approval, citing evidence the body accepted RETA contends it shouldn’t have.

While no one from RETA was available for comment Tuesday, four days after the request was filed, the group did say in a news release it felt it had a “strong appeal.”

“We’ve identified a number of key mistakes made by the AUC which should lead them to reconsider their decision,” board president Bruce Johnson said in the release.

Specifically, RETA contends the AUC accepted a chart on electromagnetic fields residents could experience that it claims misrepresents the issue; that the AUC too quickly dismissed burying the 500-kilovolt line when doing so “is becoming increasingly common throughout the world” and that it didn’t consider that construction of the line will force Colchester Elementary School to close and move. The school is located in Strathcona County.

“It doesn’t make sense to have the public pay to relocate the school, when putting the line underground would completely eliminate the need to relocate the school,” the release says.

The AUC’s approval means the transmission line will run along the east side of Anthony Henday Drive, cutting through parts of Strathcona and Sturgeon counties.

Sturgeon Mayor Don Rigney, who seconded a motion at a recent Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties calling for the provincial government to pause the line until a full cost-benefit analysis can be done, maintains his and the county’s opposition to the line, but said Sturgeon will take no further action.

“We didn’t contemplate that at all,” Rigney said. “It would be a non-starter. We’re not in a position to do that.”

Sturgeon found itself in an awkward position last month after it was revealed, despite council’s criticisms of the line, administration filed the county’s formal argument calling for construction to begin “without delay.” That meant the county had to pass separate resolutions opposing the line.

“Having reviewed all of the information, the county has concluded that these lines should not be built,” Rigney said.

Legal action

RETA’s request now means three bodies are somehow legally challenging the AUC’s decision. Strathcona County has already filed an application for review and variance with the AUC, asking for the line to be buried.

St. Albert lawyer Keith Wilson is seeking leave to appeal to the Alberta Court of Appeal, which is expected to hear his application in March. If the presiding judge grants leave, Wilson plans to ask for an injunction against the line until the full three-judge court hears his arguments.

Wilson represents the Shaw family in Sturgeon County, including Sturgeon County Coun. Karen Shaw. He plans to argue that a cost-benefit analysis is required and that political interference marred the AUC hearings.

“I’m biased but I think the one at the Court of Appeal has the greatest chance because it’s a fresh set of eyes,” Wilson said.