Perimeter, Calm Air, Kivalliq: MB Hydro expansion

[the_professor]

mb_hydro.jpg (136.38 KiB) Viewed 506 times

The diagram pictured above is part of a mailer that was sent out today in Winnipeg. There has been debate regarding the routing of a proposed new (third) major hydro transmission line from the dams in northern Manitoba down to the consumers in south. (MB Hydro exports billions in power to the U.S. and other provinces.)

The two major transmission lines that exist at present are routed between the two lakes. For redundancy, the third line must be routed elsewhere, in order to avoid exposing the entire power grid to a localized failure, as was the case years ago when a freak storm knocked out one of the two lines. No point in putting a third line in the same corridor.

Anyway, the NDP government advocates running the new line to the west of Lake Manitoba (the right-hand red line), while the PC party wants it run down the east side of Lake Winnipeg (the left-hand red line). In the diagram above, illustrates the NDP's preference, and illustrates the PC preference. The PC party claims that the NDP's approach will cost $640 million more to implement. The exact figure may be up for debate, but it will be more expensive, no doubt.

I'm not interested in debating the politics of the parties, but rather, am interested to know if anyone else has pondered the same things I have regarding this issue.

Specifically: Who stands to lose the most if the line were to be routed down the east side of Lake Winnipeg? (the right-hand line) I am reserving my theory until I see some of the responses on here...

[North Shore]

IIRC, some of the issues with the East side route are: building a power line gives access to the whole area by either sled or ATV, and so introduces hunting pressures where none existed before; the whole area is designated by the ?UN as a ?biosphere reserve (Untouched example of boreal forest etc..) and there's an endangered/threatened Woodland Caribou herd that winters in the area. OTOH, a power line means power to Berens, Bloodvein, Poplar etc, without the need for diesel gensets, and also, the possibility of an all-weather road.

One thing I've wondered is, given that the entire lake is ~ 50 ft deep, why not put the power in a submarine cable, and run it down the middle of the lake?

[the_professor]

Interesting about the submarine idea. Not sure about that, as to why it's not considered an option.

OTOH, a power line means power to Berens, Bloodvein, Poplar etc, without the need for diesel gensets, and also, the possibility of an all-weather road.

All-weather road = BINGO.

How much business would Perimeter lose if the multitude of communities along that proposed eastern line had some semblance of a road? How many scheduled medical appointments could then be reached by vehicle, instead of being one of the 3,300 medevac flights PAG flies annually? How much freight business would they lose?

There are many, many businesses whose continued success depends on perpetual native isolation... Air carriers, trucking companies (winter road freight), to name a couple.

Has the media done any digging on this?

[Sheila]

Have you seen the news lately? Since last weekend the Winter Roads have been in the news because people and freight trucks became stranded on them. I'd say the media are doing little digging because they haven't went and asked the locals how they were dealing with these problems. I heard one leader said there should be an all weather road and I think most people probably agree with that. Are you saying the hydro expansion and an all weather roads are part of the same developments?

[The Tool]

http://www.gov.mb.ca/mit/tspd/completed.html

Lots of info here