Red Deer Residents’ High Voltage Power Line Concerns Ignored

Red Deer residents who live in the Pines neighbourhood are concerned about an upgraded high voltage transmission line that will be running right through their community (Global News).

Residents are worried about documented negative impacts of overhead high voltage lines on health and property values. They have even offered to pay AltaLink to divert the line around their neighbourhood. The residents feel their concerns are being ignored by AltaLink and the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC), both of which agree the new upgraded transmission line should be built through the Pines community. AltaLink and the AUC want the new upgraded line to be built exactly where the older less obtrusive transmission line was built, regardless of the residents’ concerns.

AltaLink and the AUC have a history of ignoring health, property value, safety, environmental, economic and  aesthetic concerns of residents, businesses and municipal governments when it comes to siting high voltage power lines. The decision by AltaLink and the AUC to run this particular upgraded line through the Pines community is certainly another example of ignoring legitimate concerns of those most directly and negatively impacted. What’s especially interesting about this case is that the residents have offered to pay AltaLink to divert the upgraded line around their neighbourhood.

Many in Alberta have characterized the public consultation process conducted by transmission companies and the public hearing process conducted by the AUC as “theatre”,  simply meant to give the impression that concerns of residents, businesses and municipal governments are considered when high voltage transmission lines are built.

RETA continues to advocate for the burying of high voltage power lines to eliminate the many negative impacts of overhead lines. It is a well-known fact that burying high voltage transmission lines is both technically and financially feasible, based on information from international underground cable experts.

~ by RETA on January 17, 2015.