POWER LINE SHOCKER!

I really, for the life of me , cannot understand why Heather Colls Wahlberg would write such an ill serving letter to the Delta Optimist thinking it would benefit her own cause.

Apparently she believes that public discourse somehow contravenes her take on the power line "issue".

What nonesense it is to assume that BCTC would not be keeping "their eye on Tsawwassen" in regard to the whole process. Any business needs to understand its market and reactions within it to ensure they are on top of their game.

VP and council for BCTC John Irving correctly identifies the current status of Dan Bennett in his Optimist Letter and any attempt from Wahlberg to suggest otherwise is only detrimental to her cause which is for all intents and purposes over.

Thought I'd contribute a bit to the speculation about EMF and cancer....We know a few people along the right away that have passed away from cancer already and know of a couple of animals that got cancer aswell....

I would bet that cancer has probably affected a lot more people along the right away than in other parts of Twassen....A study should be done ....

From the Vancouver Province:

Tsawwassen residents try to fight the power
Regulator OKs utility's bid to build high-voltage transmission lines
Brian Lewis, The Province
Published: Sunday, 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.

No that there is an appeal < a href="http://www.delta-optimist.com/issues06/082206/news/082206nn3.html">in the works it would be a good time for TRAHVOL to gain some consistancy in their efforts.

On the weekend some friends and I were discussing the issues and there is lots of resentment and lots of confusion out there on all sides of the issue. Combine that differing points of view in the municiplal and provincial ranks and you have a messy situation that needs clarity.

I wish TRAHVOL well in sorting this out

The insensitivity and apathy of the provincial government, B.C. Utilities Commission and the B.C. Transmission Corporation is incredible.

What actions should responsible citizens take when they have exhausted the resources of the system, and the responsible authorities disregard valid quality research and evidence, accepted in other jurisdictions, to expedite a plan focused on economics while disregarding real social, economic and health concerns of the affected citizens?

I found it absolutely incredible the commissioners of the B.C. Utilities Commission would approved BCTC's submission to install a completely new high power transmission lines through urban Tsawwassen over 140 private properties, public parks and a school yard.

Just prior to the last election, after the minister of mines and energy saw the location of the lines, relative to the numerous homes, he wrote to the residents that the overhead line through Tsawwassen would not be recommended. Our MLA, Val Roddick, wrote to a number of residents that the new transmission line would not pass through urban Tsawwassen.

At this time, it was known the overhead line alternative was more economical, but we understood BCTC would develop one of the other two alternative viable routes. However, at the public information meetings, BCTC continued to disregard current research and used selective and incomplete information, and when confronted with valid current research, bullied and threatened the residents.

Many exceptional reports and first hand experiences and concerns were given to the utilities commission at its public meeting in Tsawwassen, which a few hundred people attended. Family after family expressed to the commissioners the devastating effect the proposed new power lines was having on house pricing, and potential health concerns for their children in their own back yard and houses.

I believe the commissioners have not been responsible to disregard the findings of the recent research and expert witnesses.

Bill Sharkey