Landowners Win Regulatory Accountability

C. Davis photo

Livingstone Landowners Group media release

The Livingstone Landowners Group (LLG) has won a major victory for responsible electricity development in southern Alberta but expects a long war.

In a 26-page ruling the Alberta Utilities Commission has told AltaLink, a transmission builder and the Alberta Electric System Operator, the province's electricity planner,  that their plans to build a new transmission line through some of the province's most scenic and iconic landscapes are technically illegal because the need for this specific line has not been approved by the Commission.


Moreover the Commission found that AESO's position was wrong because it would have constituted a denial of procedural fairness to landowners.

1. Earlier this year the Livingstone Landowners Group, which represents more than 100 landowners and ratepayers in the region, and other intervenors such as the Alberta Wilderness Association, challenged the planning and routing of a 240 kV line through some of Alberta’s most famous landscapes without proper notification, study or consideration of alternatives.
2.  AltaLink, a firm wholly owned by Montreal-based SNC Lavalin, has proposed a variety of transmission routes to support industrial wind farms that would effectively industrialize and fragment the Porcupine Hills, the Old Man River Basin and the Livingstone Range. 

The decision basically means that AESO must file a new needs assessment for transmission lines to connect industrial wind farms or amend its plan for southern Alberta and then properly consult with landowners.

The LLG  has argued that AltaLink and AESO must follow their own guidelines and use existing utility corridors for new transmission lines.

During a three-day hearing in August in Pincher Creek, Alberta represents of AESO, the electricity planner, had difficulty even identifying prominent geographic name places in southern Alberta.

Landowners, economists and lawyers across the province have raised serious questions about controversial legislation and government policy that supports $13-billion worth of new transmission lines largely without proper full cost accounting and needs assessments.


To view the complete AUC ruling click here.

For more information about the Livingstone Landowner Group visit www.livingstonelandowners.net