Dividing line

Ontario Energy Board has approved new transmission line from Milford to Elmbrook

Wind developer wpd Canada has won approval to construct a 28-kilometre transmission line from a planned station south of Milford to a highvoltage transmission station at Elmbrook, north of Picton. Last week, the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) approved the line that will snake through the middle of the County, along municipal roadways and right-ofways.

The industrial wind turbine project—29 turbines, each towering 479 feet, will be scattered from the edge of the Prince Edward Point Natural Wildlife area to Milford. It has not yet received the provincial go-ahead in the form of a Renewable Energy Approval (REA). When, or if, it does, it is likely to face an appeal before an Environmental Review Tribunal—making many of the same arguments that persuaded such a Tribunal to revoke the approval given to a developer of an industrial wind project nearby at Ostrander Point. That decision remains the only instance in which the Tribunal overturned the province’s approval.

An appeal court ruling on the validity of that decision is expected any day.

Meanwhile, the OEB has given the green light to wpd Canada’s transmission line. The developer says it will bury the cables in trenches about a one metre deep to minimize the visual impact, save for a couple of bridges where the 69kV line will pass through conduits. The Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County (APPEC) has reacted negatively to the news. They say County landmarks will be impacted by the line development, including the Milford Black Creek Valley—identified by the provincial government as an area of natural and scientific interest. The transmission line will transect the Waring’s Creek watershed as well as Big Swamp—a provincially significant wetland.

“Extensive excavation needed to bury the line is expected to cause structural damage to residential properties, including wells, heritage homes and some of the 600-plus structures along the route,” said APPEC’s Gord Gibbins.

Gibbins contends the OEB approved the line without weighing its impact on the County’s heritage, nor upon the century-old maples that line Crowe’s Road and Maypul Layn.

Others don’t believe the developer will bury the line as it has said. According to wpd Canada’s Environmental Assessment filings for the interconnection line, the developer says it could also put some of the 28-kilometre line above ground on new poles or upgraded poles along the route.

South Marysburgh resident Liz Driver doesn’t buy it.

“It will cost a fortune to bury it the entire way,” Driver told the Times last spring. “They are being disingenuous—in my view, there is no way they are going to bury it the whole way.”