Crossfield landowners organizing against transmission line

A group of Crossfield-area landowners is banding together in hopes of quashing AltaLink’s plans to build a section of the controversial $1.1 billion Western Alberta Transmission Line across local lands.

The group, buoyed by support from Crossfield’s mayor Nathan Anderson, is meeting with a lawyer to discuss an appeal to the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) before the submission deadline of April 11.

“We started this thing as landowners because they aren’t paying fair compensation, but the big topic is what it will do to the price of power,” said Murray Taks, a group member who has lived in the area for about 50 years. “I have never seen a project with so much resistance, right from the start, that they (Alberta government) haven’t backed up on. Usually, they go back and re-look at it, and this one they are pounding forward.”

The group, made up of eight landowners who collectively own about 20 quarter sections, is vehemently opposed to having the line on local lands, citing safety, interruption to farming operations, difficulty operating equipment, unsightly views, land devaluation and liabilities as concerns.

“It changes our farming operation, costs us more money to farm,” said Taks.

However, the annoyances and increased operating costs associated with the line aren’t the group’s main concern. The real problem is that the group feels a line of this nature isn’t warranted.

“We don’t think they have done the needs assessment good enough and that this power line might not be needed,” said Taks. “There is a good chance that it might put their power up by three times, and it seems like AltaLink... has really been pushing hard, and the (Progressive) Conservative government is pushing hard to get it done.”

Grant Budgeon, a fourth generation farmer located less than a kilometre from Crossfield’s boundary, has been informed AltaLink’s preferred route will place 13 towers on his property.

He said the planned towers don’t make sense in the area, because it is some of the most productive cropland in Alberta.

Budgeon said the land in his area is located in an enviable spot, with access to rail, Highway 2 and close proximity to Crossfield, giving it a high value. His family has strived to maintain the large open tracts of farmland, taking out very few acreages and maintaining the lifestyle, he added.

“We have worked hard over a number of generations to acquire the land we have,” said Budgeon, of his 18 quarter sections. “We have tried to farm it to the best of our ability. We are in the business of feeding people.”

Taks questioned the location of the line, saying building it in the less populated eastern part of the province, would make more sense.

“It is wide open, has less residents and they can get more land out there with less impact,” said Taks. “We have tried to convince them…and they just turn a blind eye. We have met with them a number of times, they are hearing, but they are not listening.”

Crossfield Mayor Nathan Anderson agrees and is seeking support in his bid to stop construction of the lines so close to his town. He has already garnered backing from Wild Rose MP Blake Richards, as well as the towns of Irricana, Black Diamond and Crossfield.

“We have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time to get ready for these hearings,” said Anderson. “What we are working on is building a group that can work together and have a unified position.”

Anderson said the deadline for registering a presentation in front of the AUC was “unprecedented.”

“It’s another example of how they are fast-tracking this,” he said.

Anderson said he wasn’t overly optimistic about the hearings, saying the AUC won’t listen to presentations touching on the need, saying that has already been determined.

“The problem is they are going to blow me off or brush me off,” said Anderson. “We will talk to the location, but the fact of the matter is they are blowing off the real questions. I want to see more input from the public. Let’s depoliticize this whole thing and do the right thing.”

Anderson said the Town of Crossfield is against both the location of the line and the fact that an open, transparent needs assessment wasn’t done.

“We are trying to build more regional support to try to get the attention of the government,” said Anderson. “The only people the government will listen to is the electorate, and only if they feel there jobs are at risk.”