Landowners' rights are not for sale

January 6, 2010
(Rimbey, AB) AltaLink announced today that they will listen to landowners, and that they will be more liberal with the purse strings, than they have in the past, when negotiating with landowners.
We say, “OUR RIGHTS ARE NOT FOR SALE!” and this is not about compensation.
AltaLink is being disingenuous when they claim that they are now willing to listen to landowners. In our opinion this is an admission that they were not truthful when they claimed they listened back in 2007. We are grateful for the admission!
If AltaLink is listening today, we say,
· Disclose AltaLink’s participation in the drafting and lobbying of the Electric Statutes Amendment Act, which circumvented the public process to determine the need for these transmission lines!
· Disclose AltaLink’s participation in the secret meetings between industry and government that Enmax has now admitted took place.
· Disclose all communication arising from the conflict of interest given that former premier Ralph Klein immediately went to work for AltaLink’s lawyers, upon retirement, and now has an office across the street from AltaLink’s headquarters.
· Disclose all communication arising from the conflict of interest given that the former EUB Board Chairman, Neil McCrank, who originally approved the need for these transmission lines, works for AltaLink’s lawyers.
· Disclose all official communications between AltaLink’s Senior Executive Vice-President and her husband, who was a senior official with Alberta Energy, (the government). We are particularly interested in the communications during the time frame it was decided the public would pay for these transmission lines and industry would be spared and costs.
· Disclose AltaLink’s role in the incident of spying on citizens, which the government investigator, retired Justice Perras, said he did not have time to “delve into the allegations”.
If AltaLink is truly listening, then we as the taxpaying public call upon them to publically support the repeal of Electric Statutes Amendment Act and restore a transparent public approval process, to determine whether these lines are truly needed or not.

We will only accept the results of a open and fair approval process. We have been denied that right for five years, but we will continue to fight for our rights.

For more information Contact
Joe Anglin
(403) 843-3279
(403) 963-0521 cell
Leader, Lavesta Area Group