Wildrose MLA Rob Anderson added his voice to that of a growing number of Central Alberta landowners who question the need for $16-billion of new transmission lines in the province.
The Airdrie-Chestermere MLA said there’s absolutely no reason to stick ratepayers with such a large bill. He called the Alberta Electric System Operator’s decision in favour of the new power lines “a travesty.”
Anderson, who spoke Saturday at the Rocky Mountain House Wildrose Alliance Constituency Association annual general meeting, believes additional power would be supplied much cheaper by natural gas powered plants built near cities such as Calgary — instead of coal-generated plants north of Edmonton that require the construction of hundreds of kilometres of contentious electrical lines.
“We would be tripling, quadrupling our power usage capacity — that’s huge over-kill,” said Anderson, who believes the government should have to justify this decision before the Alberta Utilities Commission.
Instead, projects deemed to be of critical importance are allowed to skip this process.
“If anyone says the lights could be shut off next year — that’s political malarkey,” said Anderson.
He also spoke against several provincial property rights-related bills that he felt would put too much power into the hands of cabinet. One of them is Bill 36, which could “extinguish” an individual’s property rights without any compensation, he added.
It could also take away from municipalities any kind of land-use planning, said Anderson, who noted the province could impose a plan that supersedes those done by municipalities. “Land use planning should be a local issue, not done from some central planning office in Edmonton.”
While the government intends to change the legislation’s wording in the spring, Anderson said changes should be made immediately as the bill is “completely inappropriate.”
The Wildrose MLA is also critical of Bill 19, which he said allows a freeze to be put on people’s land indefinitely, without compensation. “That means if you wanted to build a business on your land, or an apartment or house, the government could use this legislation to freeze all uses for the land for 20 to 30 years.”
While many Albertans plan to sell their property to finance their retirements, who would buy land that has a freeze on it, he questioned. “You would not get a good response.”
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com