Residents and governments launched a slew of legal challenges to the Heartland Transmission Project this month — none of which would deter EPCOR and AltaLink from working on the line, says a spokesperson.
The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) made its ruling on the route for the proposed Heartland Transmission Project earlier this month. The 500-kilovolt double-circuit power line, built by AltaLink and EPCOR, will connect power plants near Wabamun to the Alberta Industrial Heartland.
St. Albert lawyer Keith Wilson filed a legal challenge to the ruling with the Alberta Court of Appeal Tuesday. The challenge, made on behalf of the Shaw family in Sturgeon County, calls on the court to overturn the commission's ruling and may ask for a stay on its implementation.
Wilson said he would challenge the ruling on two grounds should the court agree to hear his appeal. First, he would argue that the commission erred in law by not doing a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the line.
"No one, not even AltaLink, proposed any economic benefits from the line," he said, citing testimony before the commission last summer. "They all just said the government told us we had to build it."
Second, he would argue that the commission's independence was compromised by political interference from Energy Minister Ted Morton and Premier Alison Redford. Morton asked the commission to put its reviews of the Heartland, Eastern and Western transmission lines on hold pending completion of a government review. Just hours after the commission said yes, Redford countermanded his request and asked the commission to proceed with its decision on the Heartland line.
"The process was neither fair nor independent."
This challenge follows on Strathcona County's announcement last Friday that it was also challenging the decision. The county had asked the commission to review its decision and to put a stay on its implementation until that review was complete. The lobby group Responsible Electricity Transmission for Albertans (RETA) said it planned to launch a similar challenge in about a week.
The Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties has gotten into the act as well. At its annual conference last week in Edmonton, its members, which include Sturgeon County, called on the province to put all critical transmission projects, including the Heartland line, on hold until a comprehensive cost-benefit review could be done.
But EPCOR and AltaLink have no plans to stop construction because of these challenges, said Tim le Riche, spokesperson for the Heartland project.
"We have a project that's been identified in law and been approved by a regulatory process," he said, "and we will defend the project."
They were still waiting for ministerial approval before they would proceed, he added.
Critics: price not right
Karen Shaw, a Sturgeon county councillor and member of the Shaw family, said her family has launched its challenge because of the line's potential impact on electricity prices and industry.
"It's going to cripple the economy and it's going to be bad for all Albertans," she said, arguing the line was a massive overbuild and industry officials have said they do not need it.
"If this is something that Alberta truly needs, why [is the province] afraid to do a needs assessment?"
Power lines designated as critical infrastructure under provincial law are not subject to a needs assessment hearing by the AUC.
Sturgeon County Mayor Don Rigney said it makes no sense for the Heartland line to proceed now that the province has hit the pause button on the eastern and western lines, as it's meant to be the link between them.
"There's enough power in the Heartland area for one to two upgraders," he said, adding that only one is being built. "They're building a system for market conditions that no longer exist."
The county did not plan to formally challenge the commission's ruling, he added.
Shaw, who lives near the proposed Heartland line, called on Redford to put the approval of the Heartland line on hold until its need was properly assessed. "This is not about routing. This is not about NIMBY. This is about the viability and future of our province."
The Shaw challenge would go before the Court of Appeal this January, Wilson said, and, if the court gives its approval, would go to trial next summer.
