Archives for November 2014

AltaLink sale to Berkshire Hathaway approved by AUC

November 30, 2014 By

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Pincher Creek Voice

Chris Davis

On November 28 the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) released their decision to approve the sale of AltaLink to MC Alberta, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska and led by longtime CEO Warren Buffet.

 According to an AltaLink press release “This is the final of three approvals required for the sale; the other two were received earlier this year from the federal government. We are pleased with the decision of the AUC. We expect the transaction to reach financial close as soon as possible.” Previous to the AUC decision the sale was found to be acceptable by the Competition Bureau of Canada and Industry Canada.  The AUC found that “customers will be at least no worse off after the transaction is completed and that the no harm test has been satisfied”.

Filed Under: News

LTE: Say no to the AltaLink power lines

November 29, 2014 By

Opinion Letters

Pincher Creek Echo

In this Letter to the Editor Mr. Smith details why he hopes to see a stop put to the planned transmission line. File Photo.

In this Letter to the Editor Mr. Smith details why he hopes to see a stop put to the planned transmission line. File Photo.

My wife and I are to be directly impacted by the proposed AltaLink transmission line therefore I would like my voice heard in this discussion. Not only is this huge line not needed, it would be constructed by a foreign-owned, Calgary-based company for profit. There is no urgent need for this transmission line that has a sole purpose of moving Alberta generated electricity into BC where it is subsequently sold to the northwestern United States for carbon tax credits.

At the recent AltaLink information open house I was told by Matt Gray of the Alberta Electric System Operator’s corporate communications department that wind turbines contribute about seven per cent to the overall electrical grid. He did not specify if “about” was 6.5 or 7.1 per cent. Every one of those wind turbines require back up generation because even in the south the wind does not blow all the time and there is no way to store the miniscule amount of electricity produced. The peak times electricity is required is in the heat of summer when the wind rarely blows and in the dead of winter when gusts coming off the Livingstone Range is too much for the turbines to handle.

Because the Alberta Government has a policy that every wind generator has the right to be connected to the electrical grid we, every Albertan from Fort McMurray to Pincher Creek, pay for the construction of these lines. Don’t just complain about your power bill complain to your MLA, he or she is responsible for picking your pocket with an unneeded, overbuilt transmission line.

The proposed transmission line is to run right through a Bald Eagle nesting area. We have seen in the past AltaLink’s concern for our wildlife with its misplaced Snake Trail area transmission line where hundreds of waterfowl were slaughtered by a line constructed on top of a staging area for migratory ducks, geese and swans. No fine was levied against AltaLink that I am aware of. Will the company then be allowed to kill eagles with impunity?

Thanks to the brain trust of the Municipality of Pincher Creek our once beautiful gateway to the Rocky Mountains is a grotesque mishmash of unsightly and unneeded wind turbines.

Say no to this abdominal tribute to corporate greed. Warren Buffet is rich enough already.

Doug Smith

60 Catalina Dr.

Sherwood Park, AB

*Editor’s note: Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of AltaLink is still under review by the AUC

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Filed Under: News

Two Wildrose MLAs bolt to Prentice’s PCs, leaving official opposition reeling

November 27, 2014 By
 By , QMI Agency

First posted: | Updated:

More Coverage

On Monday, the Wildrose bled. They could well bleed some more.

Kerry Towle and Ian Donovan are two Wildrose members of the legislature from the countryside where the opposition party draws its greatest strength.

On Monday, they take the walk to Premier Jim Prentice’s Progressive Conservatives.

The defection of Towle really hurts. She was close to Wildrose leader Danielle Smith. Now she is close to Smith as Brutus was once close to Caesar.

The Wildrose leader takes to the podium Monday afternoon with a quick statement to the salivating newshounds and no questions from them.

Smith doesn’t speak the word traitor or turncoat or Judas or a hundred other nasties.

She lets us connect the easy-to-see dots in her mind.

Smith contrasts Towle and Donovan with Wildrose MLAs Rob Anderson and Heather Forsyth.

Smith must be thinking: Oh, what a day it was, almost five years ago, right after the Christmas holidays.

Smith, Anderson and Forsyth. A trio of wide smiles.

Anderson and Forsyth left the ruling PCs. They defected from the government to Wildrose, a party with only one seat in the legislature.

The party had just won a byelection in a squeaker because people were vein-popping angry at the sitting premier, Ed Stelmach.

Your columnist can still recall Smith applauding the courage of Anderson and Forsyth back in January of 2010. There was so much hope in the small room.

On Monday, Smith is wanting to sound tough. The last month she has been in free fall.

She tells us says Anderson and Forsyth “gave up the perks for power” and did so “not for personal gain.”

Smith says Towle and Donovan did the opposite. Ouch. The Wildrose leader says Towle and Donovan will have to answer for their actions at home and in the legislature. Oh my.

On the other side of the legislature, Jim Prentice and the PCs are happier than sailors on shore leave.

Unsteady Eddie and Entitled Alison are two PC premiers relegated to the history books by many Albertans.

Plenty of people are giving Prentice and the PCs a chance, including some who until recently hailed the Wildrose as the government-in-waiting.

That group now includes two former Wildrose MLAs.

Smith and Wildrose?

They lost four byelections last month when they should have won at least one.

With the defeat Smith staggered a spacewalk, first wanting a review of her leadership by party members, a vote that wasn’t even possible according to her party’s rules.

Smith rambled about Wildrose MLA Marine Joe Anglin’s alleged taping of closed-door gabfests of Wildrose politicians but offered no proof he was doing any recording.

Anglin now sits as an independent in the legislature.

The Wildrose convention did not rouse the faithful and show a way forward. Smith’s speech was lame and meandering and blamed the media for party woes while talking about such things as Fun Police. Don’t ask.

At the hootenanny in Red Deer, party members recognized all Albertans have equal rights but then stopped short of naming where individuals needed protection against discrimination, for example, race, gender and sexual orientation.

After the vote, one Wildrose MLA walked away, muttering about the stupidity of the naysaying party members. He wasn’t alone.

On Monday, as two of their colleagues go out the door to Destination Toryland, Wildrose MLAs declare their support for what their party rejected.

Those who defected, explain why they vamoosed.

Towle says people in her central Alberta riding asked her to think about joining the PCs because she could do more with them than against them.

“I didn’t wake up and say: Well, you know, I had the wrong grilled cheese sandwich, I’m going to leave Wildrose. I feel strongly, in order for us to move forward, conservatives as a whole need to come together.”

Donovan’s songsheet isn’t a whole lot different.

Donovan says the people he represents want him back on the inside.

He also speaks of Smith’s pledge. If Wildrose loses the next election, she’s gone.

“It’s hard to follow somebody when they say they’re not sure they’re going to lead the team if they don’t win the next game,” says Donovan.

To quote an old saying, Smith dances with the one who brung her.

“Changing one person at the top does not change the government’s recurring problems of entitlement and mismanagement,” says the Wildrose leader.

“The premiers change, the problems remain. They always do. We will fight for what we know in our hearts is good for Alberta and good for Albertans.”

But is this a rallying cry or is it a swan song?

[email protected]

On Twitter: @sunrickbell

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Filed Under: News

LLG opposes new line project

November 24, 2014 By

By John Stoesser, QMI Agency

A local group of landowners are opposed to a new transmission project that would see power lines running west from Pincher Station to connect to a trunk line on the Livingstone Range.

The Alberta Electric Systems Operator ordered transmission company AltaLink to plan and develop the $500 million to $750 million Castle Ridge Rock to Chapel Rock project this fall.

After the developer held their first round of public consultations the other week the Livingstone Landowners Group met to discuss their position on Nov. 8.

“They’re beginning what they call their consultation phase, which is to throw out a bunch of ideas and see how people react and see if there is an easy way through this or not,” vice-president of LLG, Bill Trafford said.

By the sounds of the discussion at the meeting, the LLG is ramping up the opposition rhetoric. Throughout the evening at the Lundbreck Community Hall – where about 50 people attended – combative vocabulary like “fight”, “battle” and “resistance” was tossed about.

The group came up with five positions on the CRRCR project. They do not support or endorse it or want to discuss specific routes with AltaLink. They want the line company to use existing infrastructure corridors where possible and avoid environmentally significant areas such as native grassland. They want the lines located and designed in ways that limit visual intrusions – preferably underground – and they want AltaLink to recognize and act in accordance with the recently-released South Saskatchewan Regional Plan.

This is not the first time that the LLG has opposed a transmission project. They also objected to the Fidler to Chapel Rock project, which was recently cancelled after the Alberta Utilities Commission found a lack of need, that would have seen lines running north of the Oldman Dam and over to the same 1201 trunk line.

“We undertook to work with them and deal with that and effectively the decision that came out was don’t run that line north of the Oldman Dam, run it south of the Oldman Dam to Castle Rock substation,” Trafford said at the meeting.

The new CRRCR proposals show possible line routes starting at a substation south of the dam and then heading north again after passing Cowley.

Both the LLG and AltaLink have stated that they are looking for feedback from the people affected by the possible power routes. However, the landowner group claimed that the transmission company may use questionable procedures during their proposal consultations.

“They’ll do the very best to break you apart,” LLG director Bruce Mowat said during the meeting. “They’ll try and get you fighting with your neighbour and don’t do that. Just staying working as a group. You have a lot of power in numbers working together and we found that out in the past.”

“It’s tactics, they have lots of different tactics to approach it,” he said. “And they’ll have one (consultant) come talk to you one day and you think you’ll be dealing with that fella’ and the next week it’s somebody else and then the next week after that it’s somebody else.”

AltaLink’s external communications manager Peter Brodsky would not comment directly on these allegations because he was not at the meeting but he did offer a statement about the company’s consultation process.

“What I will say is when we choose routes and do our public consultation we do it at the highest level of integrity and ethics,” Brodsky explained. “We deal with our stakeholders on a level of honesty and integrity that we’re quite proud of and we will speak to any and all landowners impacted by our projects, hear their concerns and do our best to accommodate them where practical and possible.”

Brodsky also addressed the continuity of AltaLink’s consultations, saying, “Because we want to develop relationships with our landowners, our stakeholders, we assign agents and those agents would continue the process through the full submission of the project.”

However, if a landowner requested another agent due to any concerns, “We endeavour to keep very detailed record of all our consultations and so the ability to move from one consultation agent to another shouldn’t require a complete relearning of the relationship.”

While a number of people at the LLG meeting said they considered AltaLink’s public consultations to be more like “risk management” sessions it was clear that they considered the routing as only one piece of the power puzzle.

“We have people all over Alberta fighting for the same values,” David McIntyre, a forestry scientist, said. “We have not done a good job in getting our government to fight for us. Jim Prentice has said he is fighting for the environment, what is he going to do in this particular case?”

McIntyre also mentioned some of his recent public correspondence with MLA Pat Stier and the role of local council in this issues.

“It’s that our own council doesn’t stand up for us,” he said. “And I don’t want to say they don’t but I haven’t heard their voices standing up for us on this.”

Both Reeve Brian Hammond and Deputy Reeve Terry Yagos were at the LLG meeting and were thanked for their presence. Later in the evening a question was put directly to the reeve about the MD’s ability to influence the situation, especially regarding the community values document.

“You can point the finger at the municipality all you want but that’s not where the decisions are made,” said Hammond.

“We’re not your enemies…the only thing we can do is make them aware of the concerns of the ratepayers that are brought to our attention,” he said.

Hammond went on to say that the MD, along with passing on messages to higher levels of government, is also reviewing people’s position on wind farm development in the area.

“We need to make some hard decisions… The intensity of the resistance, the participation of the public, needs to be directed at the people who have the right and the ability to make decisions. The regulator, the Alberta Electric Systems Operator, they’re the people making the large-scale decisions,” Hammond said. One local landowner, Justin Thompson, also highlighted the fact that transmissions decisions come from the province and the populace.

“One of the things I think is really important to remember in this instance is it’s not AltaLink’s choice of whether this line is going to cost X or Y or Z,” he said. “It’s the regulator’s choice and ultimately Albertans choice. So right now they’ll come out with the status quo, which is the big lattice towers. And it’s up to communities and others to say, ‘We want to understand the true cost of different options.’”

“At the end of the day taxpayers, Albertans, might decide that this landscape is valuable enough to enough to spend an extra $10 million,” Thompson said. “It’s not AltaLink’s choice. But (their) first step in this is to say, ‘We’re going to do big, ugly lattice towers, ‘and that’s the choice because it costs too much to do anything else.”

Some of the different options LLG would prefer include running power lines underground or along Highway 3. In the consultations in Pincher Creek last month, AltaLink representatives said that underground lines are much more expensive than above-ground lines and that a route along Highway 3 could be problematic in terms of cost as well.

Discussion also turned to the fact that Albertans want cheap and reliable electricity and that people who do not live in the area do not care if power lines are installed.

“The notion that we need to make decisions on the basis of the interests of all Albertans, well there’s some validity to that story,” said Hammond. “And the other side of that is maybe if we’re making decisions based on the interest of all Albertans and it impacts a very small microcosm of the total population, maybe there needs to be a recognition by all of Albertans.”

According to Thompson, the value of this area extends beyond the relatively smaller number of people who live here.

“The point where this landscape is only valuable to 100 people, that’s not true,” he said. “There’s hundreds of thousands of people who drive down the Highway 3 corridor every year. They love this landscape.”

The meeting ended with LLG hoping to bolster their numbers and learn more about different engineering approaches to transmission development, especially regarding underground lines.

“We’ve have a really good team of people, very knowledgeable, very experienced… Well-regarded, well-respected and we have the attention of the AUC, AESO and AltaLink from the last go around so they know it’s a force to be reckoned with not something they can slough off to the side,” said Trafford.

Meanwhile Brodsky encouraged anyone that “If there are concerns I would hope they would bring those concerns directly to us so we can address them.”

The next round of public consultations on the CRRCR transmission project is expected to take place in the winter or spring of 2015.

Filed Under: News

Motion aims to protect property rights

November 19, 2014 By

LETHBRIDGE HERALD GUEST COLUMN

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2014

MLA HOPING TO HAVE ALBERTA LANDOWNER RIGHTS ENTRENCHED IN CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
Rod Fox
MLA, LACOMBE-PONOKA
On Nov. 24, I will be joined by Wildrose MLAs as we introduce Motion 501 to the legislature urging the assembly to support entrenching Alberta landowner rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  This move would in one stroke ensure any current or future Alberta government respects the rights of Alberta property owners by cementing those rights in the Charter — Canada’s highest law.  This is what both I and Jim Hillyer — the Member of Parliament from
Lethbridge — are fighting for. Hillyer is introducing a similar motion in Ottawa. He will ask Parliament to support the same principle: to amend the Charter to enshrine property rights for Albertans. The result would be that the government could not take actions under any law to diminish the value of property without fairly compensating landowners.  This kind of positive constitutional  change is possible and critical for advancing property rights here in Alberta and across Canada.

Under Section 43 of The Constitution Act, changes can be made to the Charter that apply only to individual provincial legislatures. This change would only affect Alberta.  Over the coming weeks, I will be asking my PC, Liberal and NDP colleagues to join me in unanimously supporting this motion.  It remains unclear whether Premier Jim Prentice plans on moving forward with meaningful property rights legislation this winter. But even if he does, the fact remains: landowners need rock-solid assurance of their rights; they need to know the rules of the game won’t change at a moment’s notice. This motion is the only way to truly achieve that.  The fact is, supporting this motion should not be about partisanship, it should be about doing what is right for Alberta.

As it stands, when the province directly takes private property for public purposes there are fairly clear rights in place under the Expropriation Act.  Where things get murky is in cases when the province places restrictions on land that depreciate its value — also known as “de facto” expropriation.  These restrictions can include things like revoking licences or permits, or freezing development in case there is expropriation one day, or putting caveats on land titles, or granting access to companies to pump CO2 under your land.  Instead of always allowing independent determinations of fair compensation, recent legislation has given broad discretion to the government to decide the fate of your land and your business, and explicitly ruled out appeals of those decisions or the compensation offered to the court.  Tensions between individual property owners and government infrastructure or planning are inevitable. The key is whether the businesses and property people have worked so hard for are respected. This is why property rights have been recognized since as far back as 1215 with the Magna Carta as a key to economic and political freedom.  We see this as an exciting opportunity
for Alberta to lead the way once again in Canada, and entrench a fundamental right that our federal constitution has been missing for too long.  With your help, we can make truly positive changes to public policy in Alberta. If you support entrenching property rights for Alberta in Canada’s constitution, please call or write your local MLA and urge them to support Motion 501.

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Filed Under: News

Wildrose says Alberta bill to protect private property rights weak

November 19, 2014 By

The Canadian Press
November 18, 2014 02:19 PM

EDMONTON – Alberta’s Wildrose party says Premier Jim Prentice isn’t going far enough to protect the rights of property owners.

Prentice has introduced a bill to cancel the controversial Land Assembly Project Area Act.

The legislation was passed in 2009 but has yet to be proclaimed into law.

Some landowners and the Opposition say the act is fundamentally unfair because it allows the province to expropriate land without proper compensation or fair recourse to the courts.

Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith says other related bills need to be changed as well to ensure that the rights of private property owners are respected.

Smith says her party will introduce a motion in the legislature to push forward the idea of enshrining property rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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Filed Under: News

Power struggle

November 19, 2014 By

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Chris Davis

  • AltaLink consultation sessions
  • Miistakis Conservation Priority Maps released
  • Property rights a rising theme
  • Related information
Landowners and energy developers continue to have fundamentally different visions for the future of southwestern Alberta, as evidenced by the continued opposition by many Municipal District of Pincher Creek No. 9 landowners to windmill and transmission line development in their areas.

Two strong advocacy groups have emerged, the Chinook Area Land Users Association (CALUA) and the Livingstone Landowners Group (LLG).  These grassroots organizations regularly bring their concerns to the public, to the legislative bodies, to the press, and to the MD of Pincher Creek council.

At the same time, AltaLink continues to hold regular information/consultation meetings at locations in the Town and MD of Pincher Creek, the latest being in Pincher Creek and in Lundbreck.

Neither side is blinking on this one.

Related but too much to try to pile into the scope of this article are the concerns of area environmentalists, particularly vocally expressed in the Beaver Mines, Castle and Crowsnest Pass areas.

The landowners represented by CALUA and LLG for the most part don’t want transmission lines cutting through their properties at all, and particularly not through new corridors. AltaLink has a mandate from AESO to pick a suggested route from several possibilities they presented to the public using large infographics.

New windmills are popping up all the time, and to be useful there will be transmission lines.  For some landowners, including collectives, the windmills are an economic boon.  To others they are an eyesore.  Concerns have been raised to the MD council in the past about blinking lights throughout once-dark nights, for example.  Noise is a concern. Environmental issues abound.  Certain species are literally running out of room.  Others are colliding with transmission lines and dying in significant numbers.  Bird diverters and markers have been installed in great quantity, and it’s winter again.  Will it work?

At the same time, power consumption is an ever escalating scale in the province where we’re squeezing oil out of sand as a prime economic driver.

What’s at stake, say the concerned landowners, is a landscape unlike any other in a world of dwindling landscapes.  What’s at stake, say the prognosticators and regulators, people paid to crunch the numbers and represent the results,  is a viable Provincial power grid in the relatively near future.

Complicating things, land use issues are coming to a head in Alberta and in Canada politics and jurisprudence.  The specific topic of windmill and transmission line development is acting as a crucible for legal arguments around land use reforms.  So is the opposition to logging in the Castle area, organized under the Stop Castle Logging banner.  The recently released South Saskatchewan Region Plan (SSRP) brought down its point man, former Livingstone-Macleod PC MLA Evan Berger, in the last election.  He was replaced with Wildrose MLA Pat Stier, who has voiced concern about landowner issues at public forums, in these pages, and elsewhere.  Stier has a background of ranching, oil, and rural politics in fairly equal measure.  Like Berger before him, makes the rounds of his constituency, which is of significant geographic size.  Stier attended the AltaLink session on October 24 after attending and speaking at the 2014 Wildrose Livingstone Macleod Constituency Association AGM, where he spoke with AltaLink representatives and area citizens.

AltaLink holds transmission line consultation sessions

AltaLink recently held consultation sessions in Lundbreck and Pincher Creek.  I attended the October 24, 2014 session held at Heritage Inn Pincher Creek.

According to a letter written to MD of Pincher Creek No. 9’s council dated October 10, 2014 and signed by AESO’s Matt Gray,  the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) has instructed Altalink to stop all activities related to siting, routing and consultation for the following projects:

  • Picture Butte to Etzikom Coulee Transmission Project (PBEC): A new substation, called Journault, in the Etzikom Coulee area and a new 240 kV transmission line between the Picture Butte and the new Journault substations.
  • Goose Lake to Etzikom Coulee Transmission Project (GLEC): A new 240 kV transmission line between the Goose Lake and new Journault substations.
  • Etzikom Coulee to Whitla Transmission Project (ECW): A new 240 kV transmission line between the Journault and Whitla substations.

AltaLink intends to apply to the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) to amend the approval of the projects “to ensure the need for transmission in southwestern Alberta more closely aligns with the pace of generation development”.

AltaLink External Communications Manager Peter Brodsky gave me the walk-through of their presentation.  “This is a brand new project,” he said, “the first round of consultations. It’s early in the process, nothing here is written in stone.”

“We are leaving it up to landowners and other people in the area to tell us if there are impacts that we may not be aware of based on our routing.”

The decision to cancel the previous Fidler to Chapel Rock transmission can be viewed on the AUC website in its entirety by clicking here.

Here’s an excerpt:

The AUC held a hearing in August 2013 and released its decision in January 2014, in which it approved the AESO preferred option. The AUC also stated that routing generally should be located south of the Oldman Reservoir, and once west of the reservoir the line may extend north but preference should be given to more southerly substation locations. – www.altalink.ca

Brodsky said that information gathered at the sessions, feedback from landowners, would be taken into account, balanced with cost, environment, existing infrastructure, and the practicality of the suggested transmission line route.

“We will be back in probably January to the same area for more specific routing and substation locations for more feedback,” Brodsky said.  “Landowner input all goes into the formula that we use to determine proposed lines we put before the Alberta Utilities Commission.”

“People are very passionate about the property around here, as they should be.”

“We are here to listen to the unique impacts our proposal may have and do our best to accommodate them.”

One of the mapped indicators illustrated on display was possible locations for the Chapel Rock Substation.  “There used to be a project called Fidler to Chapel Rock,” expalined Brodsky. “That’s gone away. This is a different solution for addressing the same issue.”

“What information do we need from you?” attendees were asked, categories broken down into Agricultural, Residential, Environmental, Cost, Electrical, Visual, and Special Considerations.

“Our goal here is to connect to this 500 KV line, provide power in the area, provide access for wind in the area, up into the grid.”

“It’s meant to address wind projects that are developed, or in the queue. These are firm wind developments that are going on.”

Alberta Electric System Operator Matt Gray was next on the tour.  He explained AESO’s determination that there was a need for increased transmission capacity in the area.  He told me there was currently “427 megawatts installed capacity in the Pincher Creek area” with another 658 megawatts in limbo.

“That’s what’s waiting in the queue to connect.”

“In Alberta it’s an energy only wholesale market, so generators compete with each other to sell power to the grid,” said Gray. “Our end of the arrangement is to make sure that they get connect, and that the system that they are connecting to has enough space to accommodate the uplink.”

“We hope to file by 2015.”

Their basic timeline:

  • Consultations fall 2014
  • Notify stakeholders winter ’14/spring ’15
  • File application with AUC fall 2015
  • Start construction if project is approved early 2017
  • Complete construction fall 2018
AltaLink is scheduled to make a presentation and answer questions and concerns at the next Lundbreck Citizens Council meeting on December 1 at 7:00 pm at the Lundbreck Community Hall.
Miistakis Institute releases Conservation Priority Maps

The Miistakis Institute was “founded in 1995 to build bridges between people, their perceptions and their information about this landscape”, and is the same non-profit organization that recently undertook Livingstone/Lee Lake and MD of Ranchland “residents mapping”. They have conducted a series of scientifically based environment impact measurement in Alberta over the last 20 years.

“Miistakis was initially a place based organization. We evolved out of a need that we recognized in a specific place, which is called the Crown of the Continent ecosystem.” – Greg Chernoff

On November 8 at Lundbreck Community Hall Miistakis Spatial Analyst Greg Chernoff  explained to an almost full house the freshly released Conservation Priority Maps, which are connected to the area overview released by Miistakis in December of 2012.  The maps illustrated pre-established conservation priorities overlaid on each other to assist in visualising area of low or high conservation significance.  It’s very complicated.   It didn’t always completely jibe with landowners who live in certain sectors of the mapped area.

He explained Miistakis’ reason for conducting the analysis.  “We were pulled into this by the LLG because the initial route was proposed between Fidler and Chapel Rock”, Chernoff explained after the event. “They wanted a way to represent the things that they thought were important elements of the landscape from an environmental and conservation perspective that they thought AltaLink was inappropriately considering.”

“If you look at any one of those themes in isolation then you may come up with an assessment of what the best option is”, explained Chernoff.  “Really, what we need to do is have some sort of a method by which we can look at all those different factors.”

“The question asked at the workshop very openly was what everybody recognizes kind of instinctively is that there is something very valuable in this landscape, and I asked ‘What are those things?’ and they told me. Some of those things had very much to do with the physical aspects of the landscape, ecological components, social values. Some of these things we can map, and some of them, we can’t.”
“If you look at any one of those themes in isolation then you may come up with an assessment of what the best option is”, explained Chernoff.  “Really, what we need to do is have some sort of a method by which we can look at all those different factors.”

“We just want people to have the tools to make their decisions. So when we put into the hands of the MD of Ranchlands that allows them to critically assess those things based on the criteria that are important to them.”

“Miistakis came to be as a recognition that the only way that ecosystem is going to be cared for is if we can encourage these people to come to the same table and recognize some kind of common objective.”

Responding to my inquiring if an LLG bias was inevitable in the data sets presented he was quickly and frankly affirmative.  “LLG is the organization that engaged us. They told us what was important to them that they wanted to map, and I mapped those.  It is 100% reflecting their bias.”

“That’s what these things are supposed to do, is show what the LLG thought those important elements were. I told them what I thought we could map with the budget that they had, and the results are the maps that you see.”
“We pride ourselves on being neutral. We want to encourage the more thoughtful consideration of ‘out of bounds’ between development opportunities and conservation priorities. We can’t do that if we bring an agenda to the table.”    Of course, in its own way, that’s an agenda of its own. “It’s really important that we try to be that honest broker,” said Chernoff at one point.
“We are not an advocacy group. We would cut every report short of the part of the discussion chapter that says ‘This is what you have to do’.

“You will notice that after my presentation was done, the discussion was about ‘What are we going to do with this?’ I would never put something to that discussion because from a professional standpoint, it is none of my business.”

“These maps are very, very valuable, and an important tool for organizations that want to take note.”

It cost LLG “a fair number of dollars” to commission the Miistakis project, and to host events such as this one.  Bruce Mowatt  is an LLG board member who lives up the Snake Trail, and has been a consistent voice at LLG events and presentations to MD council.  He told me that LLG, formed in 2004, was a response to the primary development concerns of the day.  “They were wanting to do some development with oil wells, and they were talking about drilling a well every 16 acres,” Mowat explained.  “It would be a disaster, a whole infrastructure. They would need to support those wells, service those wells, and service those wells,” Mowat added, including roads, machinery, chemicals, and noise as concerns.   “That’s what started our group. Ever since then we thought there must be ways to better do development.”

“Yes, they want to divide up communities, break up communities. There is not a whole lot of working together to build communities. People working together can accomplish quite a bit and achieve their goals. It works well, working together.” – attendee at Miistaakis Conservation Priority Map release

Property rights a rising theme


 Lacombe-Ponoka MLA Rod Fox of the Wildrose Party recently released a press release in which he announced that the party would be introducing Motion 501 at the Legislature on November 24, 2014 toward the purpose of “urging the assembly to support entrenching Alberta landowner rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” and that Conservative Party of Canada Lethbridge MP Jim Hillyer “is introducing a similar Motion in Ottawa”.

“This move would in one stroke ensure any current or future Alberta government respects the rights of Alberta property owners by cementing those rights in the Charter – Canada’s highest law.”

“The result would be that the government could not take actions under any law to diminish the value of property without fairly compensating landowners.”

“This kind of positive constitutional change is possible and critical for advancing property rights here in Alberta and across Canada,” said Fox. He also urged PC, Liberal and NDP colleagues “to join me in unanimously supporting this motion” because doing so “should not be about partisanship, it should be about doing what is right for Alberta”.

According to another Wildrose press release the amendment “would apply only to the government of Alberta in respect of all matters within the authority of the legislature of Alberta. The motion will act in concert with Hillyer’s Motion 520, introduced in parliament earlier this year, which asks the House of Commons to support an amendment to the Charter to enshrine property rights for Alberta”.

“Landowners are the best stewards of our beautiful landscapes and they deserve to have their rights fully protected so they can manage their property with minimal interference from government,” Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said. “This kind of positive constitutional change is possible and critical for advancing property rights in Alberta. I hope that after Mr. Prentice’s campaign commitments this past summer, both he and his government will fully support this motion.”

Accoding to the Wildrose press release, if Motion 501 receives the support of the Alberta legislature, the passing of Motion 520 federally would successfully amend the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to enshrine property rights for Albertans.

Hillyer said that the passing of Motion 501 will send a strong signal to Ottawa and be a major victory for the cause of property rights.  “This is a fight worth fighting; but more importantly, it is a fight worth winning. I am thankful for the work of Gary Bikman and Rod Fox and my provincial colleagues who have championed this cause,” Hillyer said. “I encourage all my friends and colleagues in all parties in the legislature to step up and do what is right. With the full backing of Alberta, we will be one more step closer to cementing Alberta landowner rights in Ottawa.”

Related information
Notification of AESO Regulatory Filing Addressing the Need for the Windy Point Wind Energy Connection in the Pincher Creek Area
 

(www.aeso.ca)

 
The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) advises you of its intention to file a Needs Identification Document (NID) for the Windy Point Wind Energy Connection with the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) on or after November 12, 2014. Windy Point Wind Park Ltd. (Windy Point) has requested transmission access for its proposed Windy Point Wind Generating Facility (Facility) in the Pincher Creek area. Windy Point’s request can be addressed by constructing a short single circuit 138 kV transmission line to connect the Facility to the existing 893AL transmission line.
The shaded area indicates the approximate area where the proposed transmission development is needed. In a separate application called a Facility Application, AltaLink Management Ltd (AltaLink), the transmission facilities owner (TFO) in the Pincher Creek area, will describe the specific routes and sites for the proposed transmission development, and request AUC approval to construct and operate these transmission facilities. The specific substation sites and transmission line routes applied for by AltaLink may extend beyond the area shown.
The AESO and AltaLink presented this need to stakeholders, including residents, occupants and landowners, from August 2014 to October 2014. The AESO has considered feedback gathered from stakeholders, and technical and cost considerations, and will apply to the AUC for approval of the need for this transmission development. Once filed, the NID will be posted on the AESO


Unhealthy wind turbine noise

According to a recently released Wind Turbine Noise and Health Study conducted by Health Canada with the assistance of Stats Canada, self-reported sleep disturbances, illnesses, chronic health conditions, stress, and quality of life “were not found to be associated with WTN exposure”.  However, “annoyance towards several wind turbine features (i.e. noise, shadow flicker, blinking lights, vibrations, and visual impacts)” was found ” to be statistically associated with increasing levels of WTN  (Wind Turbine Noise)”.

Random related quotes

This is an all-too-common theme of the public consultation and hearing process for construction of transmission lines in Alberta. Homeowner and landowner concerns about the negative impacts of overhead transmission lines on property values, the environment, safety, health and aesthetics are consistently ignored by AltaLink and the AUC. Many Albertans have characterized the entire power line consultation and hearing process as “theatre” – to give the public the perception that their concerns are listened to and taken into account, when in fact they are not. – retasite.wordpress.com

AltaLink’s continuing investment in new transmission facilities is delivering benefits across Alberta even before the facilities are commissioned. Communities in which AltaLink is engaged in construction activities are seeing positive economic impact from new employment opportunities, hiring of local services and contractors, and increased business for area hotels, motels, restaurants and stores. – Marketwired

Alberta currently has more than 800 megawatts (MW) connected to the grid. That is enough capacity to serve over 970,000 homes when the wind is blowing and the wind units generate at the rated capacity. However, due to wind blowing intermittently, the electricity generation from wind power varies over time. But even when considering the large variations in the wind power generation, Alberta’s wind generation is enough to provide for the electricity that over 310,000 homes use in a year. – www.energy.alberta.ca

“In Alberta, the winds of progress towards more renewable energy are still when they should be gale force.” – www.bnn.ca

In 2013, over 5 per cent of the electricity sold on Alberta’s market came from wind energy. That’s enough energy to power 1 in every 3 homes in the province. – windfacts.ca

Despite a world class wind resource, the know-how and the experience here, the growth of wind energy in Alberta is expected to slow down, in part because Alberta is one of the few places in North America that has no strategy to integrate more wind and other renewable energy in our electricity system. – windfacts.ca

There are good ways and bad ways to develop energy resources, and it is important that landowners ask the right questions, and get the right answers, to ensure they are satisfied with development. – www.pembina.org

Albertans were asked Wednesday to reduce power consumption in the wake of an unexpected power plant shutdown that has left the province’s electricity system “stressed.” – Calgary Herald

“While Alberta has developed and constructed many high quality wind energy projects, the province’s vast, enviable wind resource remains largely untapped,” says Robert Hornung, CanWEA president. – canwea.ca

I have promised Albertans twin imperatives: I will aggressively pursue responsible energy development at the same time that I will work to establish and enforce world-class regulatory and monitoring standards. I have also promised fiscal prudence and that government will not succumb to “subsidized environmentalism” — the funneling of public money to unproven schemes. Natural gas power generation is both less expensive and generates far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than coal. As they retire old power plants and replace or rehabilitate them, power generators will make the prudent choice. – Jim Prentice, Premier of Alberta (www.windconcernsontario.ca)

Related links and sources:
www.livingstonelandowners.netwww.aeso.ca
www.altalink.ca
retasite.wordpress.com
www.albertasurfacerights.com
actionsurfacerights.ca
www.pembina.org
www.calgaryherald.com
www.canadianinstitute.com
www.windconcernsontario.ca
canwea.ca
www.renewables.ca
windfacts.ca
www.energy.alberta.ca
AltaLink route selection process
AltaLink Delivers Economic Boost to Alberta Communities as Construction Grows

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Keystone setback U.S. SENATE SAYS ‘NO’ TO BILL THAT WOULD FASTTRACK KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

November 19, 2014 By

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2014

THE CANADIAN PRESS — WASHINGTON
The U.S. Senate has rejected a proposal to fast-track the approval of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Pipeline supporters needed 60 votes to win approval for the bill, but it went down to defeat by a margin of 59-41.  Had it passed, U.S. President Barack Obama was widely expected to veto the bill, which was designed to short-circuit the White House’s own environmental review process.  Last week, Obama suggested that Keystone XL would have a negligible positive impact on the U.S. economy, an assertion denied by both TransCanada Corp., the company behind it, and the Canadian government.

On Tuesday, Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford insisted otherwise as he expressed disappointment in the result of the vote.  “This project will create jobs, long term economic prosperity, energy security and environmental stewardship on both sides of our shared border,” he said in a statement.  “Keystone XL has strong public support, and the U.S. State Department has, on multiple occasions, acknowledged that it will be environmentally sound.”
Further, Rickford continued, the State Department has already concluded that the project would not by itself result in increased output from the Alberta oilsands, and would replace “insecure sources” of crude with “a secure, reliable supply from Canada, North Dakota and Montana.”  TransCanada Corp. has also long insisted the project would create tens of thousands of U.S. construction jobs.

Greenpeace Canada, long an opponent of the project, cheered the Senate for rejecting the proposal on environmental grounds. Keystone XL “would enable the production of over 24 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year while
threatening communities and their water supplies,” said spokesman Mike Hudema.  “Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper should read the warning signs and catch up to the rest of the world already acting to address the growing climate crisis.”
As a result of the vote, the question of whether to approve the project, which would transport bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, is not likely to resurface until the new year.  That’s when the pro-Keystone Republicans will take  over control of the Senate, wrested from the Democrats in midterm elections earlier this month.

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Prentice unfazed about Obama’s KXL comments

November 17, 2014 By

U.S. president questions value of pipeline to U.S. economy

Bill Graveland

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

THE CANADIAN PRESS — BANFF

Alberta’s premier isn’t concerned about negative comments from U.S. President Barack Obama regarding the Keystone XL pipeline. Jim Prentice says the Republican-controlled House of Representatives’ passing a bill to approve the US$8-billion pipeline that would carry bitumen from Alberta to refineries and ports in Texas is good forward momentum. He says there is a tougher road ahead when it goes to the Senate and hopefully to the U.S. president for approval.

Obama questioned the pipeline’s economic value to the U.S. economy and said he’ll judge the plan on its environmental merits. Prentice says Obama’s comments are consistent with what he’s said in the past and he is going to have to work with Congress for the next year. The premier says if it comes down to environmental merits, he is confident the project will pass.

“This issue here really is whether or not Canadian oil is going to be carried to the Gulf Coast by pipeline. We know it’s making its way already because it’s an integrated North American marketplace,” Prentice said before the start of the Progressive Conservative Party’s annual convention Friday.

“A lot of it’s being carried by rail so the real question is whether the president and Congress want it carried in a safe mode of transport, which is also the most efficient mode which is a pipeline.”

Prentice also disputes that Keystone would only be beneficial to Canada. He said Canada and the United States have had a long history of sharing, especially when it comes to the oil and gas sector.

“We stand by the view that together with the Americans, (this is) the most integrated, successful energy marketplace in the world. This project is in the interest of both countries and I think eventually in the United States they’ll reach that conclusion,” he said.

Prentice has yet to announce a date for a visit to Washington, D.C., to extol the virtues of Keystone to the movers and shakers. He remains optimistic about the growing support for Keystone.

“We’re hopeful, we’re optimistic. You know the growth of bipartisan support for the Keystone pipeline is really encouraging. There’s momentum and the future will take care of itself.”

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Airspace above Foremost restricted to unmanned aircraft

November 17, 2014 By

By Kuhl, Nick on November 15, 2014.

Lethbridge Herald -FOREMOST

A piece of airspace above the village of Foremost, about 100 kilometres southeast of Lethbridge, is now partially restricted.

NAV CANADA has published a permanent area of restricted airspace covering 700 square nautical miles (2,400 square kilometres) up to 18,000 feet above sea level for the purpose of flying Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), the Canadian Centre for Unmanned Vehicle Systems (CCUVS) announced Thursday.

This restricted airspace designation is the first of its kind in North America available for Beyond Visual Line of Sight UAS training, research and development for civil and commercial purposes.

The designation and publishing of the restricted airspace on Canadian aeronautical charts is an important milestone for the Foremost UAS Range which is expected to be ready for UAS flights in early 2015.

“This parcel of restricted airspace will give Canadian and international UAS operators a unique location to safely train and develop UAS for flying Beyond Visual Line of Sight,” said Roger Haessel, CEO for CCUVS, said in a release.

“The ability to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight will open up significant economic opportunities in Canada.”

The restricted airspace results from more than six years work by CCUVS and an investment of more than $1 million by CCUVS in partnership with the Village of Foremost.

The airspace will be managed by the CCUVS and will be activated through the use of Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued by NAV CANADA. CCUVS was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Medicine Hat.

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