September 6, 2005
BCTC confirms plan to expropriate 147 private properties in Tsawwassen – residents vow to fight back.
The BC Transmission Corporation confirmed in a submission to the Utilities Commission on August 27th that they are prepared to expropriate private properties and city land through 4 km of residential areas of Tsawwassen, to acquire underground rights for the Vancouver Island Transmission Reinforcement Project.
Residents have been vehemently opposed to running the transmission system through their neighborhood as the two new 230 kV lines will require a 70 foot swath through the backyards of 147 homes, four neighborhood parks and the high school sports field. They have been lobbying for nine months to have the lines re-routed due to fears of adverse health risks including cancer, associated with high-voltage power lines.
The residents say they were lead to believe that BCTC would find an alternate route after announcing on March 17th that they would not proceed with construction of overhead lines through the existing right-of-way. The community was outraged when on May 31st two weeks after the provincial election, BCTC announced plans to install the lines underground through the same route, despite having no legal rights. TRAHVOL states that the EMF levels of the new underground lines will be almost 200 times higher than the World Health Organization warning for childhood leukemia and other adverse health risks.
TRAHVOL (Tsawwassen Residents Against Higher Voltage Overhead Lines) says that 100 percent of the residents are unwilling to grant legal access and have retained legal counsel to represent them at the upcoming BC Utilities Commission Hearings. “We will fight this all the way. A crown corporation shouldn’t be resorting to expropriation of so many private properties in the 21st century, when there are viable alternatives that won’t jeopardize our health for the next 60 years. This will be devastating to hundreds of people.” says spokesperson Maureen Broadfoot.
TRAHVOL also says that BCTC is not aligned with the provincial government on the expropriation issue citing public comments from Delta-South MLA Valerie Roddick that “expropriation is unlikely” and “our government isn’t interested in that” (Delta Optimist, Aug. 3). “There appears to be a total disconnect between this crown corp. and the government. They are sending mixed messages to the public, causing distrust and lack of confidence in the whole process”, Broadfoot says.
BCTC acknowledges in their submission that in a “worst case scenario” it could take two to three years to resolve the issue which may lead to significantly increased costs and delays in completion of the project. They maintain the new transmission system must be ready by 2008 to avoid power shortfalls on the Island. “BCTC should consider spending the time and money on an alternate route, rather than wasting taxpayers’ dollars fighting with us”, says Cec Dunn, TRAHVOL Co-chair. “We appear to be heading down Duke Point road yet again. Nine months of strong community opposition is falling on deaf ears. We hoped that BCTC, BC Hydro and the government had learned from past mistakes.”
TRAHVOL will begin arguing their case this fall at the BCUC hearings, which are estimated to take three to four weeks. A public meeting is scheduled September 7th at 7:30 p.m. at the South Delta Rec Centre where TRAHVOL will provide an update on latest developments on the power line issue. MLA Valerie Roddick will be attending to answer residents’ questions. TRAHVOL’s lawyer, Joseph Arvay of Arvay Finlay will also be attending. TRAHVOL is strongly urging residents and the general public to attend.
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For more information please contact: Maureen Broadfoot, Spokesperson-TRAHVOL at 604-230-9800. Visit www.travhol.com for more information.