Hearing Date Set for ATCO 500kV Line

The Alberta Utilities Commission has scheduled January 16, 2012 as the beginning of the public hearing on ATCO Electric’s proposed Eastern Alberta Transmission Line to run from Gibbons to Brooks, Alberta.

This 500 kilovolt high voltage direct current (HVDC) line has many landowners concerned about their health, safety, property values, the environment and aesthetics. For over a year now, affected landowners have formed numerous groups to oppose the line (e.g., Vegreville Area Landowners Transmission Line Opposition Association {VALTOA}, and Voice of Community and Land {VOCAL}). This is one of several proposed new power lines dubiously labeled as “critical transmission infrastructure” in Bill 50, the controversial legislation passed in 2009 by the Alberta Government which took away any public input on the need and accountability for all these new high voltage lines.

~ by RETA on September 7, 2011.