A rescheduled public hearing intended to address concerns regarding a local power line project has been cancelled.
The needs assessment hearing for the Goose Lake to Chapel Rock transmission reinforcement program, scheduled to commence on Nov. 12, has been cancelled by the Alberta Utilities commission less than a week before it was scheduled to begin.
This week’s cancelled hearing was intended to replace a hearing scheduled for Monday, Aug. 26 that was also cancelled at the last minute.
According to a press release issued by the AUC, the applicant requested that the oral hearing be replaced instead with a write-in process in which delegates would instead submit their concerns in writing.
The press release stated that they received no objections from any of the registered participants with this change.
As reported in the Wednesday, Aug. 28 issue of the Pincher Creek Echo, next week’s hearing was suppose to replace a previously cancelled hearing set for Monday, Aug. 26. At the time, AUC spokesperson Jim Law told the Echo that the hearing was scheduled to give stakeholders more time to comment.
“It came to our attention that some of the people who live in the area who might be impacted may not have received proper notification of the hearing,” Law told the Echo back in August. “We wanted to allow people who feel they might be impacted, but weren’t aware of the hearing, to participate.”
The hearing stemmed from an application filed by the Alberta Electric System Operator, the organization responsible for the operation of Alberta’s power grid and electricity exchange market. The application involved amends an planned 240 kV power line that would run between the Goose Lake substation near the Oldman River dam to Chapel Rock northwest of Lundbreck through the Porcupine Hills.
The project is part of the larger Southern Alberta Transmission Reinforcement project, a large scale transmission and distribution project proposed by the Alberta Electric System Operator and approved by the AUC in 2009. The three stage transmission reinforcement system is expected to be complete by 2017.
Registered parties wishing to submit written statements may do so before Friday, Nov. 15.
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