Consultations are underway for ATCO Electric's Bonnyville to Bourque Transmission Project. The company has proposed four to five different transmission line routes within the MD to connect the existing Bonnyville substation to the Bourque substation, to be located northwest of Cold Lake in the MD of Bonnyville if approved.
As ATCO communications adviser Andrew Laycock said at an open house this past Tuesday at the C2, “This is just the very, very beginning.”
Now is the time to get informed and voice your concerns.
ATCO is looking for input from people before choosing a preferred route to put into its application to the Alberta Utilities Commission. What residents say now will have a direct impact on which transmission line route is chosen.
Laycock said a lot of people think ATCO has decided which route it will choose, but “that's absolutely not the case.”
He said ATCO is even open to hearing about different route possibilities.
With two open houses the past two weeks in LaCorey and Bonnyville, along with the option for people to contact the company directly with concerns or questions about the project, ATCO is doing its due diligence and providing people with a fair platform to voice their opinions. For information on how to contact the company see the story on Pages 1-3.
About 500-600 people live within 800 metres of the proposed lines and will receive a visit from the company, but anyone is able to speak out.
Local resident John Ilchuk said it well when he stated, “People have got to get out, they have to attend these (meetings), they have to make themselves heard.”
After consultations, the company will pick a route in November or December, and then go back to landowners along the line. ATCO will then submit its application to the AUC next January and hopes to start construction in November 2013 pending approval.
To prevent future disappointment, residents should take advantage of this process and seize the opportunity to speak out about this project, regardless of how they feel.
