Tsawwassen residents allowed power line appeal

Maureen Gulyas
Delta Optimist
December 06, 2006

DELTA - A B.C. Supreme Court justice agrees that it is up to the courts to decide whether a right-of-way agreement in Tsawwassen allows construction of higher voltage power lines.

"Whether the ROW agreements permit the replacement of the existing poles and lines with the larger, higher voltage poles required by the [Vancouver Island Transmission Reinforcement project] Option 1 is a question of law," Madame Justice Risa Levine said in a written decision.

It was the one ground on which Justice Levine agreed to grant a leave to appeal to Tsawwassen Residents Against Higher Voltage Overhead Lines, which went to the courts in an effort to have the B.C. Utilities Commission decision overturned.

The commission is a quasi-judicial body that regulates utilities such as electrical power. It approved the construction of overhead transmission lines along a 3.7-km right-of-way that passes directly over 147 Tsawwassen homes and businesses.

In the July decision, the commission considered whether the ROW agreements provided the B.C. Transmission Corporation with the right to build a new set of towers, which would be 120 feet high.

BCTC argued it did have the right and cited an earlier court decision in its favour regarding a similar situation to the ROW in Tsawwassen. TRAHVOL argued the wording in the agreements were different.

Justice Levine evidently decided there was some merit to TRAHVOL's legal argument.

"It is not for me to be convinced of the merits of an appeal; it is sufficient, to grant leave, if there is some prospect of success, an arguable case.

"There is, in my opinion, an argument to be made. Given its importance to the decision, there would be a clear benefit in having this question determined on a timely basis," she wrote.

Court of Appeal for British Columbia

Summary and Conclusions

[86] The four applicants raised a total of 21 grounds of appeal, condensed into 15 grounds for the purposes of analysis on these applications for leave.

[87] Leave was granted on one question: whether the existing right of way agreements permit the construction of new overhead transmission lines under Option 1.

[88] Leave was denied on all other grounds

BCCA Decision, 30-Dec-2006