News & Articles

	December 10, 2009 Highway 37 Update -- December 2009
	Since the September 16, 2009, announcement by the Government of Canada of an agreement to financially support the construction of the Northwest Transmission Line along the Highway 37 corridor, the project has been moving forward. The coalition understands that the project proponent, British Columbia Transmission Corporation, will be submitting its application to the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office in January 2010. We are hopeful this will mean some line clearing and/or preliminary construction during the 2010 construction season. It is understood that some major power suppliers and customers for the power line will be ready to "plug in" to a completed line by 2012/2013. The Northwest Power Line Coalition (the Coalition) continues to advocate for the power line and will continue to do so at least until construction is at such an advanced stage so as to ensure the project's completion. It is worth noting that the coalition and its allies were successful in convincing the Premier of British Columbia of the need to contribute $10 million towards ongoing environmental assessment work, engineering and First Nations consultation until a funding partner could be found. This money was committed by the Premier in the autumn of 2008. With the federal government's participation as a partner in autumn 2009, the coalition is engaged in discussions to ensure that the $10 million has served to ensure the project need not face any unnecessary delays. Recent developments The coalition has registered as an intervener and has been participating in the British Columbia Utilities Commission Section Five inquiry into future transmission needs in the province. The quasi-judicial body is charged with examining transmission needs over the next thirty years. Specific in the Section Five mandate is a reference to the Northwest Power Line. The coalition has been participating and monitoring the hearings. At present the inquiry is suspended as a "policy level review" of BC Transmission Corporation's and BC Hydro's submissions to the inquiry is being carried out by the Government of BC. Apparently, new government policy direction will impact those decisions. We infer this is a result primarily of changing government policy regarding independent power including relationships with First Nations. The coalition will be an active participant should the inquiry resume, given that the future of energy consumption and production in the Northwest is dependent on future transmission capacity. More details are available at: http://www.bcuc.com/sectionfiveinquiry.aspx The Northwest Power Line Coalition, the Mining Association of British Columbia, the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia and representatives of seven impacted mineral exploration and mining companies met with the leadership of the Tahltan Central Council (TCC) in Vancouver on December 2. The TCC took the time to outline their issues with the environmental assessment process, relations with the proponent and the state of government-to-government discussions with the province. The coalition and its members have committed to assisting First Nations, where possible, to ensure the power line is constructed in a timely fashion. The federal government has agreed to delegate the environmental assessment of the power line to the BC Environmental Assessment Office. This is a positive development that reflects the commitments of both the Federal and Provincial governments. The choice to delegate to the province allows the provincial environmental assessment timelines to be imposed. This ensures the assessment in completed within 180 days (with some opportunities for short delays where necessary). The federal process, on the other hand, has no legislated timelines and has historically taken much longer. Further information on the delegation agreement can be found on the BC Environmental Assessment Office website at: http://www.eao.gov.bc.ca/. Specific project information on the environmental assessment of the power line can be found at: http://a100.gov.bc.ca/appsdata/epic/html/deploy/epic_project_home_299.html. Most recently, on December 9, the BC EAO, in conjunction with BCTC, released the Northwest Transmission Line Project Application Information Requirements document. This document outlines what information will need to be collected and what questions need to be answered in order for the environmental assessment to be complete. A copy of this document can be found at: http://a100.gov.bc.ca/appsdata/epic/documents/p299/1260294313639_e1e352e5a34cfddb674144176f0bfb7e9bc1676aebdceb4a6b415c9aae13922c.pdf. Residents of the Alaska Panhandle are taking advantage of the Northwest Power Line project to push for an Alaska-British Columbia intertie power line which would connect the Alaska Panhandle to the North American grid. The Alaskans have created the ACE Coalition (the Alaska Canada Energy Coalition) to realize their objectives. ACE is hosting an inaugural conference in Wrangell on December 12th. Our Northwest Power Line Coalition is providing support to the Alaska initiative. More information can be found at: http://acecoalition.com/index.html. The coalition will be sponsoring and presenting at the 2010 Natural Resources Forum & Economic Summit in January in Prince George. The Summit is hosted by provincial Forests Minister Pat Bell and provincial Transportation Minister Shirley Bond. It was at this forum in 2008 where the concept of reviving the Northwest Power Line Coalition was born. Details of the forum can be found at: http://www.eventscreators.com/Default.aspx?PageID=27 Coalition leadership will continue to meet with government, First Nation and BCTC officials in the new year in order to ensure community, stakeholder and First Nations concerns are addressed and, more importantly, that construction begin as soon as is legitimately possible following the environmental assessment. The Northwest Power Line Coalition includes the Northern Development Initiative Trust with its forty member communities, the Mining Association of British Columbia, the Association of Mineral Exploration of British Columbia, and a number of First Nations, mining companies, independent power producers and local businesses --- including engineering firms and equipment suppliers --- and concerned citizens. More information is available online at www.highway37.com

Please direct all media inquiries to:

Byng Giraud,
General Secretary,
Highway 37 Power Line Coalition
Tel: (778) 233-6449