Court clears way for Alberta-Montana power line

Montana Alberta Tie Line connects Lethbridge and Great Falls, delivering 300 MW of wind power via a 350-km cross-border transmission corridor with NEB approval, utility permits, and farmland-friendly engineering features.

The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear an appeal by landowners trying to block construction of a power line from southern Alberta to Montana.

The ruling clears the way for construction of the 350-kilometre line, after earlier work delays had slowed progress, to carry wind-generated electricity between Lethbridge, Alberta, and Great Falls, Montana.

The project is spearheaded by Calgary-based Montana Alberta Tie Ltd., wholly owned by Toronto-based Tonbridge Power Inc.

The company says construction work could start later this fall on the line, which could carry 300 megawatts at capacity in both directions.

The landowners had been seeking leave to appeal an Alberta Court of Appeal ruling from earlier this year amid debate over new power lines in the province.

The Appeal Court had said Alberta's energy regulator was right when it said it didn't have the power to re-examine the location of the line's corridor, which had been approved for the transmission line by the National Energy Board.

Bob Williams, a company vice-president, said engineers will take farmland into account when building the lines.

"We've designed in extra clearance where a line goes over irrigated land so that the irrigation systems can operate safely right underneath the line," he said. "We've also [tried] to place the individual poles so they are out of the way of the irrigation pivots."

The project was approved more than a year ago by both the Alberta and Montana utility commissions after years of public consultations and environmental assessments, as the Alberta power grid faced mounting strain.

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