Tsawwassen residents try to fight the power

Regulator OKs utility's bid to build high-voltage transmission lines

Brian Lewis
The Province
June 03, 2007

Evidence of a direct link between electromagnetic fields that surround high-voltage power lines and serious health risks such as leukemia for those living or working nearby is increasing.

But unlike jurisdictions in the U.S., U.K. and other parts of Europe, where increasingly tough restrictions are being placed on the location of high-voltage power lines, here in B.C. our politicians and regulators don't seem to give a damn.

In Tsawwassen, for example, despite mounting health concerns by organizations as reputable as the Canadian Cancer Society, or new government-sponsored studies in places like the U.K., residents are still battling the B.C. Transmission Corporation and its bid to build a high-voltage transmission system through their backyards.

The BCTC's plan calls for an existing 138-kilovolt transmission system to be replaced with 40-metre towers supporting a 230-kilovolt system. After crossing Georgia Strait, it would supply about 70 per cent of Vancouver Island's power needs.

Despite strong opposition by the Tsawwassen Residents Against High Voltage Overhead Lines (TRAHVOL), the B.C. Utilities Commission gave BCTC the go-ahead on this $230-million upgrade, primarily because the regulator concluded it was the cheapest option.

Many who took part in the utility commission's hearing tell me the entire process was badly flawed.

For example, one viable alternative -- running this power line out to Deltaport and over to Vancouver Island, thus avoiding Tsawwassen altogether -- was virtually ignored.

This route is said to be $22 million cheaper, would give the Port of Vancouver additional power for Deltaport expansion and allow it to supply berthed, bunker-oil fuelled ships with non-polluting onshore electrical energy.

A common complaint by participants is that the BCTC, and its B.C. government masters in Victoria, had their minds made up on the powerline route long before the public "review" started -- and that the hearing was nothing more than a public-relations exercise.

(Ironically, this is the same widespread complaint being expressed on another Delta issue -- the proposed South Fraser Perimeter Road.)

Now, despite the regulatory setback and a subsequent loss in the B.C. Court of Appeal, the Tsawwassen citizens' group is fighting back on several fronts.

Armed with the results of a new, comprehensive U.K. study on the health impacts of EMFs (which recommends no homes be located within 60 metres of high-voltage powerlines), both TRAHVOL and Delta Mayor Lois Jackson have appealed to Premier Gordon Campbell to halt preparation on the Tsawwassen route and to do a "proper evaluation" of the Deltaport option.

"The report finds a positive link between EMF exposure and childhood leukemia . . . We would urge you to consider this report and its implications for the residents that live next to the transmission line in Tsawwassen," their letter says.

TRAHVOL spokeswoman Maureen Broadfoot tells me an EMF reading of four milligaus (a radiation measurement) constitutes a health risk; the exposure level for Tsawwassen residents will be in the order of 149 milligaus.

Unlike most hydro rights-of-way, power lines on the four-kilometre Tsawwassen right-of-way will pass right over private residential property, as well as over the local high school's playing fields.

"If they try to start construction, we'll definitely try to block them," Broadfoot warns.

The group is also filing an appeal with the provincial ombudsman's office and requesting it do a full review of the utility regulator's process.

And a little bird tells me that later this week the Tsawwassen residents group will announce it's seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

On August 1, BCTC responded to this column by Brian Lewis. Its response is here.