Lost in transmission

Kent Spencer,
The Province
January 06, 2009

138 homeowners offered speedy buyouts based on 'independent assessment' -- at potentially greater cost than burying loathed high-voltage lines

Homeowner Debbie McBride feels she has no choice but to accept a B.C.
government offer on her Tsawwassen property and move away from new overhead power lines.

"We're going to lose, no matter what.

"We would love to have our grandchild over in the swimming pool, but the 230,000-volt lines put kids at risk," McBride said yesterday.

She is one of 138 homeowners who have been offered buyouts by the province. The owners live under a four-kilometre overhead line that was increased in height and voltage last summer, despite residents'
objections.

"This is wrong at so many levels," said McBride. "Market values are down at the moment. Homeowners will only be given five days to accept or reject the offers. We must be out by July 31."

She expects the government-appointed "independent" assessor to submit a lowball offer of $100,000 less than she believes her home is worth.

The 2,300-square-foot house and lot, in the 5200-block Cambridge Court, is assessed at $677,000.

"Not one house has been sold since the lines went in last summer. Those are big towers. One looks like Frankenstein's neck," she said.

"We will not be able to replace the house we paid for 10 years ago. We would probably pay double. It was bought when our kids were teenagers.

"This will be like replacing a book of photographs. We thought we would live here until our 70s. It is close to the downtown core. We love our neighbours," she said.

Cec Dunn, co-president of Tsawwassen Residents Against Higher Voltage Overhead Lines, estimates the buyout will cost $70 million. He said the underground line could have been built for a net cost of $18 million.

"Taxpayers will pay for the province's mistake," McBride said.

Government spokesman Jake Jacobs said the offer is being made now because it is "the reasonable thing to do."

"Government recognizes that, due to the misinformation, there are those who still have some anxiety over the lines," said Jacobs, spokesman for the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum.

"This is a voluntary home-purchase-offer program, that will be based on market values. Homeowners are free to accept or reject the offers," he said.

"The cost of the buyout will be determined by how many people actually take the voluntary-purchase offer," he said.

Jacobs said the buyout won't cost more than putting the lines underground because the homes will be resold.

He said a government-sponsored independent study last March showed putting the lines underground would cost $30 million.

The Canadian Cancer Society came out against the Tsawwassen lines in 2006.

"We recommend the Environmental Assessment Office revise the transmission plan, if practical," the society's Barbara Kaminsky said then.

kspencer@theprovince.com

Research inconclusive

Studies have revealed concerns about possible health effects of long-term exposure to high electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from high-voltage power lines. These include memory and motor-skills loss, childhood leukemia, cancer and cataracts.

Low-frequency fields create currents in the body. Exposure to large, nearby EMFs has been proven to stimulate muscles or nerves or impair other bodily activity in short-term trials.

No studies have definitively proved or disproved a link between long-term exposure and human health risks.

A 1999 National Research Council science and engineering report concluded that "the results do not support the contention that electricity poses a major, unrecognized public-health danger."

Posted by Arthur Caldicott on 06 Jan 2009