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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1982-04-07, Page 17Utility wants shortest line Farm groups oppose Hydro '5 favoured transmission route fly Stephanie Levesque Hearings on Ontario Hydro's six proposed transmission lines routes in thwestern Ontario are we�ted to wrap up this At the end of last week, parties and participants followed Ontario Hydro's rebuttal of evidence given at the hearings. The hearings, heard by the Consolidated Hearings Board chaired by B.E. Smith have only taken one week off since they started on January 26. Of ' Ontario Hydro's s!x proposed routes, three have received the majority of support from those giving evidence. The. farm groups prefer M3, or as the foodland-hydro committee (an ad hoc committee of 15 farm organizations) proposed, an alternative to the six. In its brief and rebuttal, the committee, chaired by Tony McQuail of RR 1, Lucknow, proposes a transmission line from Bruce Nuclear Power Development to Esse and the rebuilding of present 230 kV lines in the Milton to Mid- dleport areas. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food deputy minister said he personally prefers M3, whips the Ontario Institute of Pedology, commissioned by OMAF recommends M3 or M5. Ontario Hydro recom- mends Ml and in rebuttal, lawyer Bruce Campbell said evidence presented at the hearing has given hydro no reason to change its recommendation. Reviewing the three routes Ml, M9 and M5, Campbell said M3 is the worst overall from a technical perspective. He acknowledged it had the least impact on agricultural lands. In line length he said, it is the second worst of the proposed six, and in the number of towers, second worse to M5, which has a. 500kV single circuit line from Bruce to Esse and two 500 kV mes Serving South Huron, North Middlesex single circuit lines from BNPD to the London area. In regards to the foodland- hydro committee's recommendation, Campbell said "modification doesn't make it any more attractive than Its presently Is." Comparing M1 and M5, hydro's lawyer said Ml's line length is significantly less than M5's, and M1 has 1,258 towers, while M5 calls for 2,072 towers. Campbell referred to evidence given earlier in the week by Huron County Planner Gary Davidson, in which the County of Huron in two separate motions sup- ports Ml and opposes M5: He added that Davidson said the county does not object to plan M3. Mr. Campbell said the county's position should be given "great weight" because it is willing to accept a line running full-length through the county. He added the county's op- position to M5 should be respected. "All information con- sidered, taken in balance, leads me to submit plan Ml is preferable," said Camp- bell. He said the null alternative or the do nothing approach doesn't meet the purpose of the alternative in- terpretation allowed. In Davidson's submission he said the county discussed last fall such matters as agricultural land use protection, costs of the various routes and the general need for electricity in the province. "After that discussion they took the position that they would support the Ml line, not strictly on one ground such as agricultural land use, planning or agricultural land use protection, because they agreed with Hydro that it met numerous criteria," said Davidson. He said the county discussed the matter again at its session on March 25, and re -affirmed Its support of Mi and indicated it is opposed to M5. Times -Advocate, April 7, 1982 & North Lambton Since 1873 Page IA Committee wants Accepting the fitst portion of M3, the committee has "serious reservations about Ontario Hydro's proposals for new transmission corridors into the London area from the east." The second half of M3, calls for one 500 KV double- circuit line from Middleport to Milton and two 500 KV single -circuit lines from Nan- ticoke to the London area. "We strongly recommend that Ontario Hydro rebuild on one of the existing corridors to incorporate a 500 KV line," the foodland-hydro commit- tee's brief stated. McQuail said the commit- tee is making the suggestion for rebuilding because of its deep concern for the speciali- ty crops iwthe area. Bill Jongejan of Goderich, secretary- of the foodland- hydro committee. said M3 meets the three criteria On; tario Hydro said it wants. He said M3 will alleviate The foodland-hydro com- mittee opposes the construc- tion of a transmission line bet- ween Bruce Nuclear Power Development (BNPD) and London and does not recom- mend any specific route of the six offered by Ontario Hydro. .The committee presented its brief to the Consolidated Hearings Board on March 22 here. The board is hearing evidence on the six transmission,line routes pro- posed by Ontario Hydro.• Hydro prefers a route (M1) from Bruce to the London area and from there to Mid- dleport in the Hamilton area. Chairman of the foodland- hydro committee Tony Mc - Quail, RR 1, Lucknow, said while the committee (made up of 15 farm organizations) does not recommend a. specific route, it considers route M3, at least a part of it, the -best of the six. McQuail said the Bruce to Essa part of the plan has the least impact on agriculture. "This is the area where `alternative routes... that will have minimal and acceptable impact on class one and class two agricultural land' can be found. Other advantages of this interconnection are it of- fers the shortest transmission line required to connect Bruce to the existing 500 KV system. It would provide the shortest route to Northern and Eastern Ontario as well as the major Toad centre of Toron- to," McQuail said in his brief, to the board. Another important factor stated by the committee, is "it does not lend itself to the addition of a further generating complex on the shore of Lake Huron". The farm community' considers such a complex as "extreme- ly undesirable because of its impact on themore productive agricultural lands in Southwestern Ontario. APRIL FOOL: Fat is beautiful. paAnaPacnon111- none of six routes the bottleneck problem at Bruce, solve the system security question and will allow an interchange with Michigan utilities. "Really, the farm groups have come quite a distance in accepting a line out of Bruce," said McQuail, He said the farm groups will sup- port a second line out of Bruce and will continue to work with hydro. Jongejan submitted a 1981 report of the Ontario Energy and Agriculture policy com- mittee, which he said sup- ports some of the foodland- hydro committee's proposals. The report makes 59 recom- mendations to aid agriculture on the future supply, demand. , and price of energy and its implications on the produc- tion of food in Ontario. Jongejan cited recommen- dation number 43, under the heading foodland develop- ment, "evaluate more fully the effects of urban, industrial and utility corridors on agricultral productivity, in- *eluding the effect of en- vironmental regulations that impair the efficiency of agriculture;" Besides Jongejan and Mc Quail, three other panels from the committeesubmitted evidence to the Consolidated Hearings Board. Elbert VanDonkersgoed of the Christian Farmers Federation and Lloyd Moored of the Concerned Farmers of the United Townships presented evidence on public participation and the develop- ment of the methodology us- ed by Ontario Hydro to deter- mine royte sites. McQuail presented evidence on en- vironmental impacts and VanDonkersgoed made up the fourth panel by presenting evidence on load forecasting. The board continues to hear evidence from participants. FIVE STAR WINNER Cub Tim McAllister was recognized at a recent banquet for holing won five achievement stars. He is Mown with "Akela" or Cubmaster, Ken Baker. Both are from the 1st Exeter Cubs. Tim won stars for: physical activity (red), dexterity (tawney), environment (black), history of Cub -founder Baden Powell and knot tying (green), and social achievement (blue): Baker said it was quite an achieve- ment for Tim as he had earned the stars over a shorter time than is usual. "The Mbar route, M3, was also discussed and 01 course M3 would have no impact on Huron County and the County Council in fact would not object tO that although they dld watttrtheir position to be made known that they do support Ml and that they continue in the support of MI and they are in fact willing to accept a certain amount of impact in the construction of transmission facilities for the good of the area and for achieving Hydro's goals of supplying power to the province. They do not feel, however, that the entire impact especially on' agricultural lands should be borne by them," said Mr. Davidson. The county planner also said the county wants to be involved in the public par- ticipation process that is to be used in the actual route stage study. • "We feel if the municipalities were directly Involved in designing and running the public par- ticipation with the assistance of Ontario Hydro or together with Ontario Hydro at the route stage, that many of the problems that will occur during the dual approval process can be lessened and• that the selection of a route or a specific royte stage will proceed more ex- peditiously," said Davidson. Another concern Davidson noted is the accuracy of the data used by Ontario Hydro. "The only thing I think that we would like to say at this stage is that it is in some ways unfortunate that the study .+ proceeded in 1982 just: as the 1981 data is to come out, but that can't be helped. Our concern, and we posed this to Ontario Hydro, was a requirement to use the 1981 data when the route study was done and they of course have agreed to do that," Davidson said. Summarizing the op- position to M$, the county planner said 'in choosing a line to accomplish the least effect on agriculture, M3 would do that. He said agriculture is one con- sideration and Ontario Hydro and the county have looked at all aspects. The main reasons the county is opposed to M5, is the In- creased number of towers over M1 and the double impact of two line8 at two different times. In McQuail's rebuttal for the foodland-hydro com- mittee, he said in its analysis, the committee's proposal is the best alter- native. McQuail said the com- mittee is not giving a technical suggestion, but he noted, in Ontario Hydro's reply evidence there wasn't much opposition to the proposal and to the com- mittee it is an acceptable undertaking to be con- sidered. He suggested the delay to study the committee's proposal would only be as long as the delay there was in releasing Ontario Hydro's six proposals while awaiting the government's decision. The foodland-hydro committee chairman ex- pressed confidence in its proposal and said he hoped the Consolidated Hearings Board will recommend it in its final decision. McQuail submitted costs to the board and noted the comimittee has' spent 1,100 hours attending the hearings and meetings, not including the working group meetings, to present a unified position from the agricultural groups. In his attempt to get the committee's costs awarded to Ontario Hydro, McQuail said parts of the farming sector think involvement in the hearing process would not change any decision, but Mr. McQuail didn't look at in that way. He did suggest when the board announces its decision, it be made in Stratford, so more con- fidence could be taken in the board's decision because of its openness and not tucked away in Toronto. Board chairman Smith suggested the committee file an application for costs with the board and it would be considered. CHRISTIAN SCHOOL BANQUET- The annual banquet of the Exeter Christian Schoo Society was held Friday. From the left ore Jim Poortinga, Albert Vander Haan, Clinton Christian School principal Ralph Schurman and Paul Truemner. Photo by Schwartzentruber Huron County backs Hydro's own preferred route Strongly opposed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food's preference for transmission line route M5, Huron County council reaffirmed its preference for MI. At its meeting on March 25, Huron County Council approved a motion stating the above because of M5's increased impact on the farming community. Hullet Township Reeve Tom Cunningham, who has been attending the Con- solidated Hearings Board iilr Stratford which is hearing evidence on Ontario Hydro's six transmission line routes presented a report to council, but in it made no recommendations. The motion was presented and approved later in the meeting. In his report, Cunningham said the farm groups have made a presentation at the hearings supporting M3, a transmission line route from Bruce Nuclear Power Development to Essa and from Milton to the London • area. "I would like to recom- mend supporting them in asking for M3, but I have some questions concerning this," said Cunningham. He added M3 has no effect on Huron County. "From what I have read in all the reports and heard at the hearings, I feel that technically, plan M3 is not as good as M1 or M5. It is also inferior in terms of overall environment effects and the Hearing Board must look at all aspects, not only agriculture," said Cun- ningham. , He expressed concern that because the Institute of Pedology, and the .Association of Agrologists support M5, and the fact M3 is not technically as good, in his opinion M5 might be the choice of the board. "It should be noted that in the Middlesex Federation of Agriculture brief, (they are supporting M1)...it stated there would be 1,268 single circuit towers between Bruce and London with M5, versus 716 double circuit towers under MI, quite a lot more towers. Because of this, the direct effect of construction would be doubled, as would the ongoing effect," said Reeve Cunningham. Both MI and M5 go from BNPD to Lon- don. "In the case of both sets of towers on the same right- of - way, the same group of farms . would be effected twice at different periods of time. The second line would be in a less advantageous location than the first, the best location being used for the first line. If different rights-of-way are used, then two sets of farmers would be effected." said Reeve the Tender S • SAVE • Quulityloods Our own smoked cooked ham whole or 8 shank half Ib- 1 . 1 Butt half Ib. 1 .28 Ground daily medium ground beef Ib.1.48 or Reg. price $1.98 Ib. lean ground beef 61 .88 Reg. price $2.48 Ib. Fresh Utility grade turkeys 6 to 10 lbs. ave Ib 98 Reg. price $1.48 Ib. Limit 2 KLONDYKE DAY WINNERS - Taking the prizes for the best costumes at Saturday's Exeter Lions sponsored Klon- dyke Days were Arleen and Jim Wallace, Ada Dinney and Brad Olmstead. T -A photo. Mrs. Smiths frozen pumpkin Pie Powdered Detergent tide 24 oz. 6 Titre 1 .79 3.99 Sunshine sliced 24 oz. white bread Silverwoods 2% milk 1 Titre 59i 684 Oceon Spray whole or jellied, cranberries 14 „, 89 Nabisco 500 gr. shreddies 1.18 Libby's fancy, 14 oz. fruit cocktail 78 $ Green Giant fancy, 19 oz. niblet corn 68; Schneiders 10000 Vegetoble soft margarine 1 ,e 69 � Our own sweet pickled back bacon (by the piece) Ib.1.98 Reg. price $2.98 Ib. No Name Products Available Plus Many In Store Specials Cunningham. When asked for their personal preference, both county planner Gary Davidson and Reeve Cun- ningham said they prefer M3. "As I said, there could be a • trade-off (M5 for M1), I can't say what the board is thinking...but we could possibly lose everything by ending up with. M5," said Cunningham. Turnberry Township Reeve Brian McBurney said council should support the farm groups in their request for M3. He said while M3 does -not protect the Niagara Escarpment, he couldn't vote for M1. "We can't . eat stones," said Reeve McBurney. "I want to get something straight, if we drop ow 'support of M1, and weaken hydro's support, would we end up with M5,..we don't want • M5, said Reeve William Bogie of Colborne Township. Cunningham said he didn't want to bias council, just inform them, but he felt if hydro is without support on Ml, and M3 is not technically as good, M5 may be the chosen route. • Huron County will present its position to the board, which is currently hearing evidence from participants to the hearing. Grand Bend 238-2512 Mon. to Thrus. a - 6 Opan Fri. 8 • 6 Sot. a-6 Sunday 9 - 5 • Zurich Mon. to wed. 8 - 6 Thurs. 8 - 9 236-4387 Friday 8t. t-.od Sunday closed Mon. to Thurs. 9 - 6 Fri. 9 - 6 Bayfield Sat. 8 - 6 Sunday 9 - 5 565-2791 Our own smoked, cooked old fashioned ham Reg. price 34.48 Ib. lb. 3.48 Al Steer beef sirloin tip roast Ib.2.58 beef Reg. price Ib. 53.68 sirloin Steaks ,b.2.98 Reg. price 53.58 Ib. :olifornia Iorge• stalk celery each 5.9 Ont, No. 1 fresh mushrooms lb 1 . 6 9 Prices effective Wed. April 7 to Tues. April 13 S