Tsawwassen residents win ruling on power lines

Vancouver Sun
November 07, 2006

A group of Tsawwassen residents scored a major victory today in their long-running battle to block construction through their neighborhood of new high-voltage electricity lines to Vancouver Island.

The British Columbia Supreme Court gave residents leave to appeal an earlier B.C. Utilities Commission ruling that endorses construction of 37-metre 230-kilovolt steel towers along an existing right of way through the backyards of some Tsawwassen homeowners.

The right of way at present is occupied by relatively unobtrusive wooden poles holding a 40-year-old transmission line that is nearly at the end of its useful life.

The line, which dips into the Strait of Georgia near the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, is a primary source of electricity for Vancouver Island.

The B.C. Transmission Corporation wants to replace the old lines with newer ones that would carry more electricity in a $250 million project supporting Vancouver Island’s growing population.

© Vancouver Sun 2006

BC Court of Appeal Decision
http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/Jdb-txt/CA/06/04/2006BCCA0496.htm
"Leave to appeal is granted on one question: whether the existing right of way agreements permit the construction of new overhead transmission lines under option 1."

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