THUNDER BAY — A decision by the Ministry of Natural Resource to allow a high-voltage power line to go through a portion of a protected area just west of Thunder Bay may be challenged at an Ontario Land Tribunal hearing.
"We are currently filling out the paperwork to request a hearing, which we intend to submit on Monday," Shebandowan Lake camp owner Brant Muir said this week.
"We hope that they take on our case."
Last month the ministry granted a "variance" to Hydro One so that the utility can build a portion of its Waasigan Transmission power line along Shebandowan Lake's Three Mile Bay, where Muir and other landowners have maintained remote camps for several decades.
Muir says the variance runs contrary to the purpose of the existing Shebandowan Lake Management Plan, and puts the health of a wetland at risk.
He contends Hydro One could have easily avoided impacting the Three Mile Bay area by moving that section of the transmission line to another nearby corridor that already exists.
A MNR spokesman said the ministry granted Hydro One 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."
But according to Muir, a PhD-candidate in biotechnology, "the MNR provided approval of this variance before seeing any of Hydro One's site-specific mitigation measures for the Shebandowan Lake area."
Hydro One, meanwhile, said this week that construction has already started on some phases of the $1.2-billion Waasigan project, including right-of-way preparation and access road development.
A Hydro One spokeswoman said "to date (the company) has not been engaged by the Ontario Land Tribunal for the Waasigan Transmission Line project."
"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," the spokeswoman added.
It wasn't immediately known if construction must pause should the Land Tribunal grant the Shebandowan Lake landowners a hearing.
To be built in two phases, Waasigan is to 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.
The Chronicle-Journal / Local Journalism Initiative
