Sep. 30, 2009 - Issue #728: Fall Style 2009
Well, Well, Well
Heartland Transmission Project: Drawing a line over power lines
Tumbling around in my brain this warm September afternoon are thoughts of
children sleeping and playing beneath massive 500 kV power lines, and the
voices of the over 1400 disillusioned and no-longer-unsuspecting Edmontonians
trying to get politicians and industry representatives to hear their
objections and to care enough to change course and bury the monstrous lines
planned by the Heartland Transmission Project.
Many of those present at the meeting were angry and scared, and rightly so.
The intensity of emotion expressed wasn't, contrary to what some have
suggested, unjustified, nor was the information presented deserving of the
label fear-mongering.
Industry representatives present at the meeting pointed to guidelines issued
by Health Canada and the World Health Organization (WHO) as the basis for
their decisions, but they're little comfort to most—these regulatory
bodies have a long history of negotiating in favour of industry, and all too
often of firing scientists who draw attention to the problematic science.
Those free to look at the evidence and draw their own conclusions draw some
very different ones from those arrived at by Health Canada and the WHO.
As I wrote earlier this summer, the conclusion of the BioInitiative Working
Group, which did a large and comprehensive assessment of the science on
health impacts of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), was that "existing public
safety standards limiting these radiation levels in nearly every country of
the world look to be thousands of times too lenient. Changes are
needed."
It's simply not true that there is no compelling evidence of significant
health hazards associated with the level of electromagnetic radiation.
There's plenty, some links as strong as 300 percent increases in cancer
risks. That's why the Canadian Cancer Society doesn't recommend parents let
children play under power lines.
Disagreements such as this between industry and the people adversely impacted
sometimes go on long after industry has moved forward with its plans, and it
is those in whose backyards industry has landed who have to live with the
cost of the endless debate. The effects of nuclear power plants, for example,
or oil industry pollution such as that impacting the residents of Fort
Chipewyan are still being debated, even though very disturbing cancer
clusters have been documented.
The suggestion that those who bought property along the Transportation
Utility Corridor (TUC) should have known a power line like this might come
along someday is, to be blunt, insensitive. We make decisions based on
current information, not on every conceivable future development, and the
proposed 500 kV line would be the first of its size in Alberta. There's no
way any of those living nearby could have imagined anything like it. Not even
city councillors were aware of the plans being made behind closed doors until
February of this year.
And besides, life happens—an unplanned child, an economic crash, a job
loss, a partner defection, an unforeseen property devaluation—any of
these have the power to back us into a corner we would not have chosen. Those
next to the TUC, now faced with the very real possibility that they may have
no choice but to allow their children to sleep and play and grow up beneath
20-storey power lines, have every right to be angry.
We're talking about power lines not only twice the size of the existing ones,
but, according to the West TUC website, also lines to go up in addition to
and between the existing lines and the homes along the TUC—in many
cases, literally in the backyards our children play in. Once they're up,
they're up, and once property values have gone down, and once we confirm
again what other research has confirmed—that they're a health
hazard—it'll be too late.
Progressive societies put precaution ahead of industry interests. City
council gets it, and has passed a motion to oppose the use of overhead lines
for the Heartland Transmission Project. But will organized opposition be
enough to force industry to bury them? V
More stories in front »
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