Residents concerned about the Heartland Transmission Project will have a second chance next week to get involved in its upcoming hearing.
The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) is holding an information session on Monday Oct. 25 in Morinville on how to get involvedparticipate in its upcoming hearing on the Heartland Transmission Project. A second session is planned Tuesday in Edmonton.
Epcor and AltaLink applied last month to build a power line between the Alberta Industrial Heartland and power plants near Wabamun. If approved, the companies would string a 500-kilovolt double-circuit AC line through Sturgeon County along one of two routes — one past Morinville, and one past east Edmonton.
The plan for the line now goes before an AUC panel to determine which of those two routes it will follow. The panel would normally rule on the need to build the line as well, but the province has bypassed that step by declaring it as critical infrastructure under Bill 50.
Anyone who believes they could be directly or adversely affected by the line should come to Monday’s session, said Jim Law, AUC spokesperson. “This is an information session, not an open house,” he added, so they won’t be discussing the merits of the line itself.
This is the second such round of sessions the commission has held this year for the line, Law said — the first was in March. The AUC is also planning a pre-hearing session next month, one where it will hear preliminary arguments and set a time and place for the hearing.
Groups such as Responsible Electricity Transmission for Albertans (RETA) are already preparing for that hearing. RETA hopes to have about 10 expert witnesses testify on everything from health to property values, and is polishing up its arguments, said president Bruce Johnson.
“It’s quite evident that there does not appear to be a demonstrable need for this particular line,” he said. “If they’re going to run these things anyway, they need to run them in a responsible fashion.”
Anyone who wants to take part in the hearing, especially if they don’t have a lawyer, should attend next week’s session, Johnson said.
For details, click on the Heartland Transmission Project picture on the AUC website at www.auc.ab.ca.
