By Simmons, Garrett on February 16, 2014.

Group mounts letter campaign over GoldenKey plans

Judy Westcott

For the herald

Concerned citizens gathered for a letter writing campaign Saturday in hopes of sending a strong message to government and industry officials that oil well drilling should not be allowed within the municipal boundaries of the City of Lethbridge.

Held at McKillop United Church, the campaign was organized by The Black Spots, a local citizen group that formed recently in response to a proposal by Goldenkey Oil to seek permission from the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to drill three oil wells on privately-owned land in West Lethbridge. The City of Lethbridge has no jurisdiction over oil and gas drilling within its urban boundaries. Drilling approvals are exclusively within the jurisdiction of the AER and public consultations are not mandatory.

“This letter campaign allows citizens to come together and discuss their concerns,” says Sharon Prenevost, a spokesperson for The Black Spots. “It can also provide a little comfort and hope to citizens who are feeling completely hopeless about the situation.”

She says the proposal by Goldenkey Oil to drill three sour wells within the urban boundaries of the city has “touched a nerve” in the community.

“The government tells us not to worry, but we do because of the many issues that have arisen due to fracking procedures over the years,” Prenevost says. “We want to have buffer zones created around urban areas, not just in Lethbridge, but all over the country.”

Residents attending the letter writing campaign were provided with information on mineral rights and drilling procedures, the political process involved in the approval of drilling applications and news articles for background information.

“We’re trying to sort fact from fiction, but when it comes to fracking, it’s very difficult,” Prenevost says. “Companies regard certain information, like what chemical cocktails they are using, as industry secrets.”

Prenevost says that although Saturday’s event was organized by The Black Spots, they were supported by other local groups such as the No Drilling Lethbridge movement and the Mission and Social Action Committee of McKillop United Church, which compiled a list of concerns for letter writers to reference as well as hosting the event.

Some of the concerns being raised include public safety from air emissions, possible water and soil contamination, an increase in the use of residential roads by industrial vehicles, noise and light pollution and the transportation of hazardous materials through residential neighborhoods and high traffic roadways.

Prenevost says a major concern for many residents is the lack of an emergency response plan for the evacuation of the 33,000 residents of West Lethbridge if required.

“In 2012, a disaster scale grass fire fueled by high winds made us very aware of the challenges facing an evacuation,” she says.

Letter writers were encouraged to address their concerns to Alberta Premier Alison Redford, the AER, Goldenkey Oil, local MLAs, members of the Opposition Parties, the provincial ministers for the Environment, Energy, Health and Transporation and the mayor and council of the City of Lethbridge.

Besides the letter writing campaign, The Black Spots have been holding public demonstrations throughout the city and have been circulating a petition to have urban drilling banned.

She says the group will continue to raise awareness of the issue and are looking for inspiration from other interest groups, such as the Knitting Nannies of Australia.

“We’re just a group of concerned citizens who feel we have to take action,” Prenevost says.

“This is an issue that affects all of us.”

The Pincher Creek Voice

Chris Davis

As reported here on January 8, 2014, a number of dead ducks were found underneath AltaLink electricity transmission lines adjacent to Highway 785 south of the Oldman River Dam (click here for that story).

AltaLink spokesman Scott Schreiner says the company has completed their investigation of situation. Schreiner confirmed 345 dead birds were found, 244 mallards and 1 grey partridge. “We believe it was a combination of high winds and lowered visibility that caused them to hit the lines  where bird diverters were in place, and where they weren’t,” said Schreiner.

To attempt to mitigate the situation Schreiner said AltLink was at the site yesterday installing new wind diverters on new lines and on lines that already had diverters. He also said AltaLink would be increasing patrols “from an environmental persepective” in the area to monitor the situation. Bird diverters are devices that attach to power lines. They flap in the wind to warn the birds that the hard to see lines are there.

Schreiner said that AltaLink’s Avian Protection Plan was the first of its kind by a utility company in Canada. “One of the things we do is identify high risk areas,” he said, adding that AltaLink installs diverters and patrols such areas to monitor environmental impact.

Schreiner said the power line was strung in spring of 2012 and has been powered since later that same year “and this is the first incident of this type that we’re aware of”.

“It’s certainly unique in terms of our entire system.  We take it seriously, which is why we launched the investigation the day after we heard about it.”

Retired scientist and area environmentalist David McIntyre took pictures of the site on December 31, 2013 one of which is republished at the top of this article. He’s long made known his opposition to the positioning of the power lines in question and also acts as an informal spokesman for some of those concerned about the situation. McIntrye said he had an informal meeting with biologists from AltaLink and Stantec last Monday to discuss their findings, which McIntrye said mirrored his own observations.

“I didn’t go to the site with the biologists, but we were on site-separated by several hundred meters, one day at the same time, and concurred that within one half-hour period, more than 2,000 ducks flew overhead, and directly over the problematic, currently strung, transmission line, under which hundreds of dead ducks were found.”

According to McIntyre there are approximately 5,000 mallards and 5,000 Canadian geese below the dam on any given day in the winter months. Problematic for him is that the transmission line west of 785 and the one under construction roughly eastward which parallels the river valley is in the direct line of flight for fowl flying to and from adjacent grain fields. “You didn’t have to be a biologist to see we have a tremendous number of birds wintering this area and that’s going to be a big problem for them. I find it amazing that AltaLink would build lines there if they had done any kind of environmental assessment. The red blinkers should be going.”

Mcintrye believes this was not an isolated incident. “It’s crystal clear to me it was multiple collisions. There may have been many incidents. Unless it lands on someone’s doorstep, we may never hear about it.” He also voiced his concern about the effect the situation could have on eagle migrations in spring, when “thousands of Golden Eagles migrate up the crest of the Livingstone Range”.  He worries they will be attracted to dead ducks as a source of food, “And now it’s more than a dead duck issue.”

Eyewitness accounts

Ducks found dead under transmission lines near Oldman dam

By Dave Mabell on January 14, 2014.

 LETHBRIDGE HERALD

[email protected]

Think you’re paying too much for electricity now? Things are only going to get worse, warns Mayor Chris Spearman.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg ” he told city council members Monday, after a detailed briefing from the city’s electrical utility manager.

Alberta’s electrical transmission costs have doubled over the last five years, manager Otto Lenz pointed out.

“And transmission charges could double again in the next five years,” he predicted.

With Lethbridge power bills expected to increase as much as 6.3 per cent per year, Lenz told council three of the city’s largest power users are already hoping to build their own power stations and go “off grid.” The impact, at least in the short term, would be to download more costs on Lethbridge homeowners and small businesses.

The soaring costs of power transmission, he said, are a result of the Conservative government’s decision to build two high-voltage transmission lines in central Alberta. They’ll cost $2 billion, he said, and the government has ruled ordinary Albertans should pay for their construction instead of the companies’ investors.

The two north-south lines’ capacity will be far in excess of need, Lenz said. They’ll be of little benefit to Lethbridge-area customers.

“It’s like running a Via Rail train between Coaldale and Lethbridge, for one passenger.”

Lethbridge officials have often made that point during presentations to the government-appointed energy regulators, he said.

“It’s fallen on deaf ears.”

Responding to council members’ questions, Lenz said while large, power-hungry companies are allowed to generate their own power, the city’s electrical utility is not. Yet Calgary and Edmonton are permitted to own large electric utilities which are allowed to generate.

Medicine Hat has to abide by almost none of the regulations that hamstring Lethbridge, he added. But Lethbridge, as a “wire services provider,” is required to provide service to local customers who do not want to sign a contract with Enmax or one of its retail competitors.

While it’s intended to operate on a break-even basis, he said the utility has lost as much as $2.8 million on those customers one year – when power prices spiked after a train derailed into Lake Wabamun, site of a major power plant west of Edmonton.

Year-end results for 2013 were a loss of about $1.5 million, he said, due to unexpected hikes in transmission charges set by the Alberta Electrical System Operator. The utility transferred $9.7 million to the city’s coffers, however, as a return on the city’s investment in electrical facilities.

In the power distribution tariff proposed for 2014, Lenz said the utility could resume a break-even course despite slight reductions to access fees for distribution.

A typical homeowner using 650 kilowatt-hours could see the bill rise from $112.66 to $117.64 per month, he estimated. A large retailer using about 35,000 kilovolts would see last year’s $5,472 bill increase to $5,841 per month.

The city recently created a higher-impact residential rate, Lenz said, in response to some owners’ decisions to use heat pumps for geothermal heating, or plug-in electric cars. Their monthly bills could advance to $466 for 3,500 kilowatt hours, up from $446 last year.

By Michael Platt, QMI Agency

Pincher Creek Voice, Thursday Jan 9 2014.

Terri Vidricaire, Letter to the Editor

Area residents are rightfully concerned with the carnage wrought by AltaLink’s newest power line project when hundreds of ducks are killed in a single weather event. Both AltaLink and Stantec were advised that this would be the outcome if they proceeded with their plans to traverse the sensitive watersheds and flyways in the southernmost parts of the province.

There are real concerns that, if allowed to proceed with their (yet undetermined) plans for the area between Pincher Creek and Waterton Park, the AltaLink slaughter will extend to eagles, cranes, swans and the many species of raptors that migrate through and populate the area encompassed by the Waterton Biosphere. As we explained to AESO, AltaLink and Stantec during their “community consultations”, the watersheds and cultivated fields serve as staging areas along the annual migration routes.

They connect the Waterton Reservoir to the Waterton Lakes and the areas between these serve as resting and feeding areas for multitudes of waterfowl and other migratory species. If AltaLink is allowed to proceed south of Pincher Creek towards Waterton, some of Alberta’s most pristine and sensitive lands and many types of wildlife, some protected under federal legislation, will be irreparably damaged by the close proximity of more deadly power lines. As Albertans and area residents, we have a resource worth protecting. In addition to sustaining the western heritage lifestyles of many in our ranching and farming community, the area draws over 400,000 visitors annually from around the globe.

Rather then coming up with a bandaid solution, when will AltaLink start burying the lines? Visit Reta’s website at retasite.wordpress.com for more information and to support burying power lines, because AltaLink’s fix is “not” for the birds.

http://www.cjocfm.com/news-and-info/news/lethbridge-news/lethbridge-ndp-spokesperson-shares-documents-relating-to-goldenkey-oil/

Photo: Looking west from Highway 785 at the point where the new transmission line crosses the highway, December 31, 2013

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

A number of dead ducks were found underneath AltaLink electricity transmission lines adjacent to Highway 785 south of the Oldman River Dam.  Area citizens first reported the deceased birds in early to mid December of 2013 after a cold snap.

I drove out to the site earlier today and discovered an AltaLink crew inspecting the area but my inquiries were directed to AltaLink spokesman Scott Schreiner.

According to Schreiner, “The first we heard of it was a phone call I received yesterday” (Wednesday, January 7).    He said the incident was then reported by AltaLink to Alberta Sustainable Resource Development and to Fish and Wildlife, who are believed to have been on scene today December 8 as well.

According to David McIntyre, who took the photos included with this article, “The observed dead ducks appear to have been killed over a protracted period of time rather than, say, from one or two isolated incidents. I offer this due to seeing both freshly killed ducks and others that appeared to have been on the site for some time.”

McIntyre is a retired scientist, a noted area environmentalist, and among many other things is also a director of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).

“The attached images show a currently-under-construction, 240kV AltaLink transmission line that’s located north of the town of Pincher Creek and Highway 3, south of the Oldman River valley and the Oldman Reservoir (created by water backed up from the Oldman Dam),” he explains in an email.  “I took the pictures on Dec. 31, 2013.”

“If you look closely, you can see that transmission lines have been strung to the towers revealed in the first image, but have not yet been strung to the newly erected towers to the east.”

“Also visible in the first image are the remains of dead ducks that, from all appearances, have been killed as a result of collisions with the overhead lines. The pictured duck remains are the tip of a dead-duck iceberg that extends all along the newly erected transmission lines.”

McIntyre believes the new transmission lines have “within a very short period of time, killed hundreds of ducks due to high-speed—bone-breaking—collisions.”

He could not estimate the number of ducks he saw, but believed them all to be mallards, and he said he saw at “at least one Canada goose and one gray (Hungarian) partridge.”

“Seven eagles (a mix of golden and bald) were feeding on dead ducks during the brief time I stopped to examine the site, and one eagle was seen carrying off a dead duck. One rough-legged hawk and dozens of ravens were also at the site. This active feeding by avian scavengers suggests that many dozens of dead waterfowl may have already been removed from the area where they were killed. Regardless, the land beneath the pictured lines looks like an avian slaughterhouse. It’s littered with duck remains, and the ground, wherever there’s vegetation, has captured a carpet of windblown feather.”

McIntyre makes his opposition to the transmission lines very plain and offers his opinion of the situation quite candidly:

“It’s more than likely that ducks, flying in tight flocks, are particularly vulnerable—more than geese, or swans—to the new transmission lines, particularly in times of poor visibility. Regardless, it appears obvious that the line’s placement, directly between a key waterfowl staging area and adjacent grain fields—read “feeding areas”—couldn’t have been planned more effectively … if killing waterfowl had been its primary objective.”

“Almost overnight it’s become southern Alberta’s Dead Duck Cafe.”

Scott Schreiner said the causal factor(s) for the deaths was presently undetermined, but “When we heard about it we sent out a team to investigate.  We’re taking this very seriously.”

“We’re the first company in Canada to put together an avian mitigation plan,” said Schreiner.  “We want to find out exactly what happened so we can mitigate future events.”  That may include installing devices on the line to make it more visible to birds.

We will follow up on this story as more information becomes available.

Correction “Area citizens first reported the deceased birds in early to mid December of 2013 after a cold snap.”  edited from “Area citizens first reported the deceased birds in mid December of 2013 after a cold snap.”