The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The NDP government has granted an environmental license for Manitoba Hydro's Bipole III, another step forward for the controversial transmission line. The province said the license includes 68 conditions, exceeding the 26 Clean Environment Commission licensing recommendations resulting from concerns raised in public hearings and Crown-Aboriginal consultations. 'The licence for this project is in line with the strictest of any transmission line environmental licence in the country,' Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh said. 'The conditions are clear _ any actions that would compromise Manitoba's environment must be prevented or mitigated.' Mackintosh said that as Bipole III proceeds, Manitoba Hydro will also submit individual environmental protection plans for project phases.Ê Two independent environmental audits will also be conducted, one when the project is completed and another five years after completion, to ensure environmental commitments were met. More than 180 Manitobans participated in the Clean Environment Commission (CEC) hearings from October 2012 to March 2013. These included hearings to accommodate route changes that were implemented to address concerns about caribou, moose, raptors and other wildlife.Ê Most of the 42 additional licence conditions address issues and concerns raised by Manitobans, including comments from First Nations, M_tis and local Aboriginal communities in public hearings and Crown-Aboriginal consultations.Ê In addition, the project was reviewed by a committee of provincial and federal government scientists and experts, the province said. Bipole III will stretch between Gillam and a converter station east of Winnipeg. While Manitoba Hydro initially wanted to run the line along the east side of Lake Winnipeg, the NDP intervened to have the line run along the west side instead. The province felt that communities on the east side did not want the transmission line, and that the line would hinder an application to have forest on the east side declared a UNESCO heritage site. But using the west-side route added greatly to the length and cost of Bipole III, which will now reportedly cost $3.28 billion or more. There are fears this will eventually send Manitoba Hydro rates, already rising virtually every year, skyrocketing in the coming years. The new environmental license for the project requires Manitoba Hydro to: implement extensive monitoring programs (including the use of trail cameras and other more comprehensive means) for woodland caribou, moose, wolves, black bears, white-tailed deer and birds of prey (such as the protected peregrine falcon and ferruginous hawk) to ensure the effective implementation of mitigation measures to protect those species; establish an easily accessible public website that will be maintained in perpetuity to share monitoring results, reports and evaluations of mitigation measures, creating historic transparency for environmental protection; strengthen recommendations from the CEC by ensuring no net loss of wetlands; establish a new right-of-way clearing practice that protects coniferous forests and non-hazardous wildlife habitat trees, and protects lines-of-sight for aesthetic purposes; include provisions for consultation with farmers before tower placement is finalized to minimize the effects on farm operations; eliminate the use of herbicides during construction and during line maintenance in wildlife management areas and bogs, and use them in other areas during line maintenance only as a last resort; and submit annual reports on the success of mitigation measures used during construction including an assessment of the accuracy of predictions made about the use of natural resources. Mackintosh said the province will continue to listen to any concerns raised by Aboriginal communities as the project proceeds. Those concerns will be considered through conditions in the many approvals and permits required for the project, he said. _ Compiled from a Government of Manitoba news release, with files from The Reminder archives
