The fight by some Saskatchewan residents to prevent construction of a $40-million high-voltage power line was taken to the legislature in Regina last week.
Don Wolff, of Liberty, Sask., met briefly with premier Roy Romanow and delivered 750 letters from Saskatchewan residents opposed to the so-called Condie line.
Wolff told reporters the letters were signed by people throughout the province, not just those who live near the line’s route.
“There is a good cross-section of letters that have been collected all the way from people across the whole province, as far away as Yorkton against the Manitoba border, along the western border from Eatonia, Kindersley, Maidstone, Lloydminster, Unity,” he said.
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The line, which is already under construction, will run from Condie, northwest of Regina, to the Queen Elizabeth power station in Saskatoon. The government says the line will ensure adequate power to residents in the northwest. Those opposed have environmental concerns, and say an energy conservation program would make the line unnecessary.
There are 264 landowners directly affected by the line. About 75 percent signed easements allowing construction to proceed.
Letters of protest
Wolff said the 750 letters protest the line itself and call for an independent regulatory body to examine similar projects.
“Really we should have some kind of a non-government review board or some kind of a system that’s a little apart from government making all the decisions,” he said. “People are a little bit fed up and they feel like we have no say over what goes on in government. There’s too many decisions being made by bureaucrats and Crown corporations.
After his meeting with Romanow, Wolff said he was “guardedly optimistic.”
“Mr. Romanow said he is looking into this issue about having some kind of a non-government regulatory body again,” he said, adding the premier promised a response to Wolff within two weeks.
Romanow did not make any comment.
SaskPower minister Eldon Lautermilch said the project has been scrutinized by various environmental groups at the federal and provincial levels.
“If I look at the environmental positives from this line and the fact that we will save in the neighborhood of 20 megawatts a year, then this is the biggest energy conservation initiative that SaskPower’s ever embarked upon,” he said.
Meanwhile, landowners and groups have lost in legal efforts to halt the project. Wolff said a decision hasn’t yet been made on whether they will take their case to the Supreme Court.
