When Jim Vetsch looks out his dining room window, he sees a pair of giant transmission lines snaking across his land to carry power to southern Alberta.
A third even larger transmission line may be built beside the existing lines.
“They really are imposing structures,” said Vetsch, one of the 700 member Lavesta Area Group opposed to construction of the 500,000 volt power transmission line to run from Edmonton to Calgary on the west side of Highway 2.
Vetsch doesn’t want more wires and transmission towers blocking his view near Rimbey, Alta., but he objects even more to the way government regulators have ignored landowners’ concerns.
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The regulators recently admitted to hiring private investigators to keep an eye on landowners opposed to the transmission line. One of those investigators posed as a concerned landowner and joined in confidential telephone conference calls with the group’s lawyers.
“We were very disappointed with Alberta Energy and Utility Board they would do this type of thing,” said Vetsch.
The AEUB is an independent government body that regulates and approves energy and utility development.
“I do believe it has blackened the eye of the provincial government.”
For two years, Vetsch and the group of landowners have objected to the way the line was approved without consulting them. In 2005, the Alberta Electric System Operator, the regulator that oversees the province’s electrical grid, received approval from the Alberta Energy Utility Board, the province’s energy regulator, to have AltaLink upgrade one of the 240,000 volt lines to a 500,000 volt line and develop an additional 500,000 volt line beside the existing two lines.
Before the line can be built, an AEUB panel must grant final approval of the route. During these hearings landowners can cite their objections.
Few landowners believe AEUB is a neutral body. They believe it is merely a rubber stamp for industry, said Lavesta Area Group leader Joe Anglin.
The board’s hiring of private investigators and barring landowners from public hearings prove the process is merely a formality, said Anglin.
“It’s designed to accommodate industry at the expense of the people.”
Those public hearings began in Red Deer in April, but were shut down because of disruptions by landowners who didn’t believe the board took their concerns seriously. One elderly woman tried to hit a lawyer after the chair of the panel turned off the microphone that allowed landowners to ask questions.
Only written submissions were then allowed due to concerns AEUB officials had about safety and security. The hearings were moved to a Rimbey courtroom. Only officials participating in the cross-examination were allowed in the courtroom. Landowners had to watch the hearings through a live feed at the Rimbey Community Centre.
Even NDP MLA David Eggen was barred from the Rimbey hearings when he tried to show support for the landowners.
Eggen said the AEUB has been out of step with landowners, starting with a poor job developing a needs assessment for the power line. The discovery of private detectives hired to spy on landowners is even more outrageous.
“They have reacted in the most inappropriate way every step of the way,” said Eggen.
“If that doesn’t raise five alarm bells for every citizen across this province I don’t know what will.”
With the growing number of oil and gas wells, refineries and transmission lines crisscrossing the province, the AEUB needs to be fully functional, not tainted by controversy, he said.
Alberta Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald said the AEUB lost credibility with its admission of using private investigators.
“How can you expect to maintain your credibility when you are snooping on the same people you are called on to serve?” said MacDonald.
AEUB spokesperson Davis Sheremata said the board’s security department hired four private investigators to gauge the potential for violence, not spy on the group.
“This measure was only done in response to acts of violence,” said Sheremata.
The landowners got a moral boost in April when the Alberta Court of Appeal granted them the right to argue their case in court, based on seven points, including whether AEUB interpreted key legislation correctly before approving the power line.
“That was a big vindication,” said Anglin. “My confidence has been raised 10 fold.”
No date has been set for the appeal court hearing. Anglin predicts they will lose the fight in front of the AEUB, but will win in front of the appeal court.
