ATCO Electric has proposed four to five different transmission line routes for its Bonnyville to Bourque Transmission Project that has some residents upset.
ATCO has selected different routes for the transmission lines to stretch from the existing Bonnyville substation to the Bourque substation, to be located northwest of
Cold Lake in the MD of Bonnyville if approved.
About 500-600 people live within 800 metres of the proposed lines and will receive a visit from the company. ATCO is looking for input from people before choosing a preferred route to put into its application to the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC).
“This is just the very, very beginning,” said ATCO communications adviser Andrew Laycock at a project open house this past Tuesday at the C2.
“A lot of people think that at this point we've already cemented in our minds where we want to go, and that's absolutely not the case. We want to hear from everybody,”
He said ATCO is also open to hearing about different route possibilities.
After consultations, the company will pick a route in November or December, and then go back to landowners along the line.
“We just want to make sure that we're absolutely crystal clear with what everybody's thoughts on the line are.”
At that point, ATCO will discuss compensation with landowners, “so they can get a real idea of what the dollars involved are going to be,” he explained.
Laycock said the company has a formula based on where the structures are located and how many there are.
ATCO will then submit its application to the AUC next January and hopes to start construction in November 2013 pending approval.
One of the proposed lines is right beside the Ilchuks' property.
“The one that affects us, we're absolutely against it,” said John Ilchuk.
His land has been subdivided and rezoned for his grown children to live on with their families. His daughter Vanessa lives there and one of his sons is considering moving in. If the transmission line is put up there, he won't move in and Vanessa will leave.
“Our dreams of being parents and having some of our kids close to us is going to be gone,” Ilchuk said.
Vanessa Ilchuk said there is quite a bit of research to suggest electromagnetic fields (EMFs) can have significant health effects, with the danger zone being within a 600 m range. The proposed line would be 300 m from her home.
“I don't want to put any of my kids or my family in general or even myself under any of that kind of stress.”
She compared EMFs to cigarettes explaining how people didn't used to think cigarettes were harmful and how researchers today can't prove EMFs are harmful, but there are theories suggesting they could be.
“So what, they're going to put a transmission line beside my house and then I'm going to become one of those cases that have to tell people ‘Guess what happened to me?'”
She added the potential health effects from the transmission lines could be blamed on other aspects of her lifestyle.
“It's basically like somebody's forcing me to smoke is what it feels like.”
The Ilchuks were not comforted by the suggestion that EMFs are also emitted from household appliances such as microwaves.
“You don't have your head in your microwave 24 hours a day,” said John Ilchuk, explaining how the transmission lines would be on all the time and emit more than household appliances.
Laycock said some people are concerned about EMF effects.
“We're not experts in this field so we rely on the information that's provided by Health Canada and by the World Health Organization, amongst others.”
Laycock said to date their research does not conclude the electric and magnetic effects from these lines pose a considerable danger to people.
He mentioned how other household appliances that run on electricity such as microwaves, hair dryers, and phones emit EMFs.
Laycock said the best way to mitigate risk is through distance, which is why ATCO tries to use setbacks from the lines and keep them away from built up areas.
He said while ATCO tries to keep towers away from houses as best they can, there is no set minimum distance.
“If you come in to Edmonton you'll see that some of these get right close to neighbourhoods,” said Laycock.
John Ilchuk also noted how land values will decline if there are transmission lines going through them or close by.
For the Ilchuks, compensation is not even a factor and they favour underground lines.
“Anybody, if they have a voice or they have an opinion, they need to say it. We need people to (speak out in) opposition,” said Vanessa Ilchuk.
John Ilchuk said peoples' concerns are the only way ATCO will get feedback to work with.
“If they don't gather anything, they'll just make the assumption that ‘Well I guess it's OK to go here,'” he said. “People have got to get out, they have to attend these (meetings), they have to make themselves heard.”
Creating an underground transmission line would be up to the AUC to decide, explained Laycock.
“If there was a need or a reason to go underground, we're not opposed it, but there's not a huge precedent for it to be done.”
But an underground line would cost Albertans more, not the company.
“It has the potential to be a lot more expensive than an above ground. So those expenses would then be passed on to ratepayers throughout the province.”
Albertans share the costs for transmission projects throughout the province. The fees for a transmission line in Calgary for example, would still appear on a Bonnyville resident's power bill.
Vic and Janet Marchuk live very close to one of the proposed transmission lines.
They have valuable lumber on their land and are concerned about trees being removed for the transmission line.
“How many years does it take a spruce tree to grow?” asked Janet Marchuk rhetorically.
With the different options, she said she didn't think it was right how the company was “playing off farmer against farmer,” as no one would likely want a line on or near their property.
The Marchuks have a lot of wildlife on their property, a hunting-free area.
“We let the deer go in there and have their little babies,” she said.
For the past 30 years, oil companies have approached the Marchuks wanting to drill on their land. “We will not allow them at all.”
She is concerned it could also open up their land to skidoos and hunters who would go right through a fence.
“We want to keep the bush,” she said. “We want to keep the nature as natural as we can.”
And like the Ilchuks, she questions the health effects, but would not favour underground lines.
“We want it just completely away.”
ATCO hosted a similar information session in LaCorey two weeks ago, with 120 attendees. Laycock said concerns varied from the proposed area, to agricultural interests, to aesthetics.
People with questions or who weren't able to attend the meetings can contact ATCO's Shawn Hipkiss at 1-866-600-0022 or [email protected] to discuss the project.
