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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Power struggle
The Clean Environment Commission’s plea for clarification of how to assess the environmental and financial impact of Manitoba Hydro’s new bipole line underscores the Selinger government’s disabling conflict in the multibillion- dollar project. It has insisted the line run down Manitoba’s west side, regardless of its impact on Hydro’s finances or the environment. The CEC process is perfunctory at best.
Running Bipole III down the west side of Manitoba rather than the east side inflates the line’s cost by $1 billion, a bill the ratepayers will shoulder. The CEC might offer suggestions on how to minimize or compensate for the environmental impact, but it cannot examine real alternatives to the route.
And this week, intervenors at the environmental hearings on Bipole III said they cannot trust Hydro’s own report on the needs for and alternatives to (NFAAT) Bipole III without looking at its supporting documents. The CEC has asked the government what it should do.
There is wide opinion the line is taking the wrong route. Some believe Bipole III itself should be scrapped. Bipole III is being built to maintain security of power supply. The other lines run down the Interlake and a natural disaster such as massive windstorm could cut power to hundreds of thousands of customers, Hydro warns. Critics, including the Public Utilities Board, insist there are more economical options, such natural-gas-turbine generation.
The government has declared Bipole III does not require an NFAAT review, as do generating stations. Yet Bipole III is tied to Hydro’s plans to build the Keeyask and Conawapa dams, which are looking less attractive as revenue forecasts from export contracts continue to drop like a stone.
The government’s plans for separate NFAAT reviews for each project makes little sense. The projects are interconnected and should be reviewed together by a third party against the best forecasts of energy-market conditions. If the Selinger government is so sure of the economics of Hydro’s capital plans, it will put them to the test.
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