DELTA - The B.C. Transmission Corporation unveiled plans Tuesday to route high-voltage power lines underground through residential neighbourhoods in Tsawwassen, after an earlier proposal for overhead lines met strong public resistance.
The newest proposal to upgrade power lines to Vancouver Island, released at a crowded public meeting in Tsawwassen, would see the lines buried in an existing 50-metre-wide right of way that cuts through neighbourhoods in Tsawwassen and Ladner.
Alternately, Bruce Barrett, project manager with BCTC, indicated the power lines could be located under municipal roads if residents are willing to pay the additional cost, estimated at $5 million.
Maureen Broadfoot, spokeswoman for the Tsawwassen Residents Against Higher Voltage Overhead Lines, said the new proposal falls short of addressing her group's concerns.
"We're extremely upset about it," Broadfoot said. "We don't feel that the community's concerns have been met. We have huge concerns about the health effects of placing these high-transmission lines underground.
"In our minds, safely transmitting power and building those costs into proposals is just the cost of doing business."
The citizens' group has pointed towards several studies that have linked proximity to high-voltage power lines with higher incidences of childhood leukemia.
However, BCTC spokeswoman Jenn Hartman said the newest proposal strikes a balance between local concerns and the electricity needs of B.C. residents.
"This [proposal] takes into consideration [the fact] that we have to be accountable to all the rate-payers in the province," Hartman said.
According to forecasts from B.C. Hydro, power demand on Vancouver Island is expected to increase by 30 per cent over the next 20 years. BCTC officials have also said the existing towers, which are between 35- and 50-years old, will need to be replaced soon.
An earlier proposal would have nearly doubled capacity in existing overhead lines using new 30-metre-high steel towers. The proposal was shelved May 17, when BCTC announced they would seek an alternative to overhead lines through residential areas.
Similar public outcry has been raised on Saltspring Island, where residents are lobbying for an undersea route rather than overhead wires.
Barrett said BCTC officials expect to file their newest proposal with the B.C. Utilities Commission -- an independent regulatory agency for the provincial government -- in June.
