EDMONTON — The lawyer acting for residents fighting a $610-million power line east of Edmonton is challenging the project in court.
Keith Wilson filed documents Tuesday asking the Alberta Court of Appeal hear an application to halt the Heartland Transmission Line alleging the decision was botched and there was political interference by Premier Alison Redford.
Wilson said Redford coerced the independent Alberta Utilities Commission panel into approving the line earlier this month by publicly announcing she wanted the transmission line to go ahead, said Wilson.
“The premier may not have intended to interfere, and I don’t think she did intend to do it,” said Wilson in an interview.
“But the reality is she is the premier, her statements have great weight, and she sent a pretty strong message on what she wanted the commission to decide.”
Wilson notes that while the commission operates at arm’s-length from the government, the premier can hire or fire its leadership.
Wilson is also arguing the decision be overturned on the grounds the panel didn’t take into account the social and economic effects of the line, which will run through Strathcona County around Edmonton’s eastern outskirts to service heavy industry and other users to the northeast.
Linda Osinchuk, the mayor of Strathcona, and other area politicians say it’s not proven that the extra power is needed, and they worry about the line running near homes and a school.
Osinchuk said they want to see all the information the commission used to make its decision, and plans to explore the issue further next month in a meeting with Energy Minister Ted Morton.
Morton said safety and social impacts were taken into account.
“Seventy per cent of (the line) is in a dedicated utility-transmission corridor,” he said. “I think that explains the AUC’s decision.”
As for Redford influencing the process, Morton said, “Obviously it’s false and obviously it’s Mr. Wilson grandstanding.”
Both Redford and the commission say she did not influence the panel’s decision.
The commission has said their decision-making process was affected by changes the government made to electricity rules two years ago.
Those changes drastically altered who decides when a power line is built.
Previously, the commission made the decision after public hearings were held to determine if the extra power was indeed needed. Such checks and balances were considered critical because taxpayers fund the construction of the lines.
However, under former premier Ed Stelmach, cabinet was given power to unilaterally order up power lines if it alone deemed the power need was critical. Heartland was one of three major lines ordered up under the fast-track rules.
Redford has since put the other two north-south lines on hold, but says Heartland must go ahead because the power is needed.