Sturgeon County residents could see construction of the massive new Heartland Transmission Project as early as this winter, says a company official.
The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) released its ruling on the Heartland Transmission Project Tuesday. The 500-kilovolt double-circuit power line will, once complete, connect power plants near Wabamun to the Alberta Industrial Heartland.
The commission was asked to pick between one of two routes for the line: a western one that would run past Morinville, or an eastern one along the east leg of the Anthony Henday Drive. They were also asked to consider whether part of the line would be run along monopole towers or underground.
Based on the evidence presented to it at this year's hearing, the AUC picked the east route as the one most in the public interest. The fact that this route ran through a transportation utility corridor set aside for power lines was one of the key factors, the commission said.
Not underground
Putting the line underground was "a high risk proposition" that "provides no advantages over the all overhead line" in terms of power losses or reliability, the AUC found. Citing evidence from Cable Consulting, it found that an underground line would have slightly more outages per year than a surface one (about 0.4 versus 0.308), take about 19 months longer to build, and cost about $549 million more.
While it noted "deep-seated concern" amongst residents about the potential health effects associated with the electromagnetic fields produced by the lines, the AUC did not find evidence that those effects would actually occur. It found the strongest electrical fields produced by the lines would be below international limits, while its magnetic fields would not be appreciably different from background levels.
Significantly, it noted that expert witnesses on this subject called by line opponents and proponents agreed that putting these lines underground would have "no material difference" on the strength of these fields. These factors led the commission to reject the underground option for the line.
However, it did order line proponents AltaLink and Epcor to put a 9.5-kilometre stretch of the line on monopole towers instead of lattice ones to reduce its visual impacts. This would raise the cost of the project to $610 million from $582 million.
Critics disappointed
The release of the ruling means that the line can now be built once the minister of infrastructure approves it, says AUC spokesperson Jim Law. (The line runs through a transportation utility corridor under that ministry's control.)
Sturgeon County Mayor Don Rigney said he was very disappointed in the ruling. "We all want affordable, reliable power and a democratic Alberta," he said. "What we've got here is prohibitively expensive power and a less democratic Alberta."
Rigney reiterated the position of the Alberta Industrial Heartland Association that these lines were unnecessary, as they would supply far more power than the region actually needed, and would drive up power prices throughout the province.
Bruce Johnson, spokesperson for line opponents Responsible Electricity Transmission for Albertans, said this ruling showed how the AUC hearing process was "simply theatre." The AUC heard ample evidence about the health impacts of electromagnetic fields and the reliability of underground lines, he said, but chose to ignore it.
The AUC is supposed to rule in the public's interest, Johnson said, but here it has ruled in the interest of the provincial government. "The AUC is a puppet for a pretty corrupt [Progressive] Conservative government." His group was now considering legal action to challenge the commission's ruling.
Tim le Riche, spokesperson for the Heartland Project, said Epcor and AltaLink would abide by the commission's ruling. They hoped to start excavation as early as this December, with aim to have the line done by 2013.
The ruling is available at www.auc.ab.ca.
