Dear Premier Alison Redford:
I am writing this letter to you in the hope that you will put a stop to the absurd scheme, which is the Western Alberta Transmission Line, initiated by the Ed Stelmach government.
I am an engineer, farmer and landowner living within the proposed right-of-way of the ill-conceived WATL line. I have had my fill of open houses, pre-hearing meetings, landowner group meetings, lawyers, affidavits, discussions with AltaLink landmen and ever-changing plans that always end up looking the same, since 2006. The process has been divisive, pitting neighbour against neighbour and region against region and has taken its toll on my family’s future. There are many faults of the proposed transmission line that I take issue with:
• The lack of respect for landowner rights by the Ed Stelmach government.
• The ultimate purpose of the line, which may ultimately export coal-generated power to the northern United States, to gain access to public funds.
• Generators refute the AESO forecasts and the need for extensive transmission build-up. Local power generation would be more effective in a deregulated market, spurring innovation in an open market and distributed wealth for all Albertans. I have been involved in the front end engineering and design (FEED) study for ground-breaking power generation from straw and municipal waste such as what the City of Edmonton and Red Deer County have proposed.
l The illegitimate process for the approval of these transmission projects, effectively blocking public input and discourse. The previous hearing for the exact same line was thrown out due to spying on landowners by the AUC.
l The line bypasses all generators and users in the central portion of the province and provides an unfair advantage to TransAlta, which has been caught milking the electricity market red-handed.
l The practical impediments it has for my farming operation.
l The tactics used by AltaLink to distract and deflect those in opposition by proposing multiple alternative routes and then currying favour with money-hungry landowners with large cash payments up front (out of taxpayers’ pockets).
l The visage-destroying lattice towers proposed by AltaLink and the lack of any consideration to the visual impact to those living with the towers.
But, the primary issue I wanted to express in this letter is the hemorrhaging of taxpayer money to a Quebec-based company with questionable dog-eat-dog business practices.
That company is SNC-Lavalin, who now owns 100 per cent of AltaLink.
This is how I see the scenario playing out, having witnessed first-hand the business dealings of SNC-Lavalin in other arenas. AltaLink, has been given public funds to pursue the approval and construction of these lines with essentially no risk to themselves.
Therefore, AltaLink has no reason to control costs to the already exorbitant $1.4 billion.
This is a sacred cash cow for SNC-Lavalin, who upon approval of the proposed line will have exclusive contracts for the engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance of the line with no apparent business risk. Once operational, SNC-Lavalin is also guaranteed nine per cent profits for the lifetime of its operation. Why do you think SNC-Lavalin has completely bought out all other parties to attain complete control of AltaLink?
Here’s a brief look into the future: The line is partially built, the original budget is spent, without a usable transmission line in place. The government will surely throw good money after bad to complete the “critical” project and end up overspending by double, if I would hazard a guess. What reason do they have to be accountable to the Alberta public who are footing the bill? The more money SNC-Lavalin spends on the project, the more money flows into their corporate coffers and out of Alberta, as they have a significant financial cut in all facets of this project.
Aside from all the reasons stated earlier for putting an end to this project, I am afraid that this will cost all Albertans dearly for years to come, with no real intrinsic benefit.
Kurt Kure, P. Eng.
Innisfail