THUNDER BAY — A small group of Shebandowan Lake camp owners just west of Thunder Bay who are challenging a portion of the route of a new high-voltage power line have learned they can't make an appeal to the Ontario's Land Tribunal.
The group says it plans to exercise another option in their quest to have the line moved.
Brant Muir, one of the group's members, said the tribunal told them earlier this month that the agency has no jurisdiction to make a ruling.
The group wants Hydro One to relocate a portion of the proposed route for its Waasigan Transmission line so it doesn't negatively impact a wetland on Shebandowan Lake's Three Mile Bay.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) granted Hydro One a variance so that it could build adjacent to Three Mile Bay, even though doing so violates the intent of an existing provincial conservation plan for the area, Muir contends.
A MNR spokesman said the ministry granted the variance because it's "satisfied there will be negligible impact on the Shebandowan Lake Management Plan objectives, based on the nature of the proposed work and the proposed mitigation measures."
Muir said the group plans to appeal that decision to a ministry regional director. It made an appeal request on March 12.
"We now have 15 business days since sending our request to file the appeal," Muir said.
Meanwhile, construction has already started on some phases of the $1.2-billion Waasigan project, including right-of-way preparation and access road development.
"We have successfully negotiated voluntary agreements with the majority of landowners along the line's route, and we remain hopeful we can reach voluntary agreements with the remaining landowners through ongoing engagement," a Hydro One spokeswoman said last month.
To be built in two phases, Waasigan will transmit 350 megawatts of electricity, mostly in areas west of Thunder Bay — "enough to power Thunder Bay, twice," Hydro One claims.
The first phase, a double-circuit 230-kilovolt line between Shuniah and Atikokan, is planned to be in service by the end of this year.
Phase two, which will be completed two years later, involves a single-circuit 230-kilovolt line between Atikokan and Dryden.
Hydro One and the province have said the new line is needed to meet an anticipated increase in demand for electricity, particularly from the region's mining industry.
The Chronicle Journal / Local Journalism Initiative
