Power line meetings “futile”

Clareview 500-kV transmission lines spark debate over overhead towers, electricity transmission routes, and community impacts, as AltaLink and Epcor face low-turnout public consultations, calls to bury lines underground, and concerns about Edmonton's Industrial Heartland demand.

Public meetings on a controversial power line northeast of Edmonton aren't sparking much interest among those likely to be affected because they see the process as futile, a resident says.

Only 14 people showed up for an information session in Clareview as the Alberta power grid faced critical strain this month.

Dave Oldham, who lives next to the proposed electrical line project in his neighbourhood, said he thinks he knows why so few are coming out.

"People I think are just fed up. They realize that it's not making a difference, we're talking to the wrong people. These are the people that are trying to sell the product, so it's not the people that are making the decision," Oldham said.

"I wish we could have government representation out here while the transmission overhaul process unfolds in Alberta today. Where's our city councillors? Where's our politicians, where's our provincial politicians? There's no representation from them out here. It's just the people that are selling it. That's why nobody is coming. It's a waste of time."

Electricity transmission companies AltaLink and Epcor want to build the $350-million, 500-kilovolt overhead lines and towers to carry electricity 65 kilometres to the province's industrial heartland region.

Before the Clareview meeting on the lines, an earlier session drew 25 people and another attracted about 20. Last year, 1,500 people took part in a rally at Rexall Place in Edmonton to demand the lines be buried underground even as a utility dispute over the need for new power lines continued across Alberta.

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