Heartland team announces choice for transmission project

Hanneke Brooymans, edmontonjournal.com: Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Electrical power transmission lines stretch to the horizon at 127th Street and 153rd Avenue.
Electrical power transmission lines stretch to the horizon at 127th Street and 153rd Avenue.
Photo Credit: John Lucas, The Journal, File, Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON — The team for the Heartland transmission project announced Wednesday it wants to run the high voltage transmission line through the east transportation utility corridor.

It is holding off on a decision on whether or not it would like to bury a portion of the line until the Alberta Electric System Operator finishes a study on the feasibility of doing so.

The controversial project involves running a double-circuit 500 kilovolt line from existing transmission facilities either west of Edmonton or in southern Edmonton to the heartland region northeast of Fort Saskatchewan.

Residents living along the four proposed routes have expressed strong concerns about the safety of the high-voltage line. They are worried about health, safety, environmental, esthetic and property value impacts.

Last November, a group called Responsible Electricity Transmission for Albertans (RETA), held a meeting at Rexall Place which they say attracted about 3,500 people. Members of the group want the line to be buried.

June McNeil, vice-president of RETA — West TUC, said she isn’t relieved about the team’s decision.

“I have a heavy heart for the people who live over there,” she said about east TUC residents. “That’s a lot of angst for the people who live there and a lot of worry. Getting it out of my backyard doesn’t make it good. I don’t think any Albertan should have it in their backyard.

“Who’s to say that as the transmission projects proceed that the west TUC wouldn’t be the next choice,” she added. “So how could I be happy for somebody to have an overhead power line now, when in five years it could be me? So I still think we need to all unite and have a very strong voice that wherever the line is, that it be buried.”

The project team also chose an alternate route option. This is the route that is west and north of Edmonton.

Consultation with the public and evaluations of each of four proposed options showed that these routes, respectively, have the least overall impact, the team said in a news release Wednesday.

The east route will have 4,656 homes within 800 metres of the edge of the right-of-way, compared to 302 homes for the west route, 9,297 homes for the west TUC route and 3,331 homes for the east route. Twenty homes will be within 150 metres of the centre line in the east TUC route, which is less than any of the other routes.

The preferred route also has 52 hectares of sensitive wetland areas within 800 metres of the edge of the right-of-way. But it runs through the least amount of privately owned land of all the routes.

Estimated costs provided for the four routes are of dubious value, given that they are accurate within plus or minus 30 per cent. The preferred route did come in lowest at $361 million.

The Heartland project team expects to file its facility application in the spring of 2010.