Hydro One's Waasigan Transmission Line project sparks tensions among homeowners

As Hydro One continues to move forward with its Waasigan Transmission Line project in northwestern Ontario, residents in the Thunder Bay District are rallying for an alternative route.

The project promises to bring an additional 350 megawatts of electricity to the region, which the utility company says is more than double what it takes to power the City of Thunder Bay.

The lines, if approved, would be built in two phases:

• Phase 1: A new double-circuit 230 kilovolt transmission line between the Lakehead transformer station in Shuniah and Mackenzie transformer station in Atikokan.
• Phase 2: A new single-circuit 230 kilovolt transmission line between the Mackenzie transformer station and Dryden transformer station.

Preliminary work on the project, and pushback from residents who will be affected by it, has been happening for years but tensions hit a critical juncture after the draft environmental assessment was released last Wednesday.

Members of the public – including businesses, First Nations and residents – have until July 7 to submit feedback on the assessment, but residents of Kaministiquia, about 30 kilometres west of Thunder Bay, are trying to freeze the process.

Neighbours on the Line, which has a Facebook group with more than 300 members, held a meeting at the Italian Cultural Centre Thursday to discuss what they call deficiencies in the draft environmental assessment.

The grassroots group has drafted its own alternative route for the project, which was rejected. Now, they're drafting a letter to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks for a cease on the 45-day public review period, until Hydro One addresses their concerns.

But according to Hydro One, there are actually two review periods still to go before shovels break ground.

After the first review period ends on July 7, Hydro One will make adjustments to the draft based on the community's feedback, before submitting its report to the ministry. Then, the ministry will host public sessions before a final decision is made.

"The draft report was developed with over four years of input from Indigenous communities, residents, directly impacted property owners, and businesses. We will continue to work with and listen to the community as we develop the Waasigan Transmission Line project and find solutions to address concerns where possible," said Sonny Karunakaran, director of project delivery for Hydro One, in an emailed statement to CBC News on Friday.

Alternative route from residents rejected

Karunakaran told CBC News the lines must balance four areas: technical issues and cost, socioeconomic, Indigenous values, and respecting the natural environment.

Hydro One's preferred route scores higher on all fronts, except for the socioeconomic environment, when compared with the proposed alternate route from Neighbours on the Line, he said. 

Residents say their main concern is how close the lines will be to their houses, which they fear would remove the natural buffers between residences and the watershed, said Michelle Hamer, who organized Thursday's meeting for Neighbours on the Line.

Hamer runs a clinical herbalist service off her family's century-old homestead, selling natural products she harvests from the land. Her worry is that her well and pond, which feed people and livestock at three other properties, isn't included in the draft environmental assessment. However, a spokesperson for Hydro One told CBC News that private wells registered on affected properties were included in the assessment.

For Estella Howard, the project would put a hydro tower at the end of her driveway, destroying her blueberry patch.

While residents have been told Hydro One won't spray for defoliants without neighbours' consent, Howard still worries that defoliant from other properties will affect her own. The draft environmental assessment says Hydro One is reviewing the use of herbicides due to these concerns.

Howard would like to see Hydro One take an alternative route that still brings electricity where it's needed, but abandon the current plan.

Mitigating the negatives

Karunakaran said the draft environmental assessment indicates the project "will not actually create any significant negative effects on the environment or the communities it traverses."

"With the ability that we have to either avoid or limit the actual potential impacts on areas such as plants, wildlife, water and communities, the mitigation measures that we're going to deploy will make sure that the negative effects associated with this aren't considered significant," he said.

Consultations with the Indigenous and Métis communities affected has also been a key priority, he said.

Furthermore, Hydro One has committed to an equity partnership model with First Nations on capital transmission line projects that exceed $100 million, giving First Nations a 50 per cent equity stake.

Support from IESO, provincial government

Hydro One received a letter of support from the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) – the not-for-profit that co-ordinates the province's electricity system – at the end of April, to move forward with phase two of the project as soon as phase one is completed, tentatively by the end of 2025. 

"The Waasigan Transmission Line will lay the groundwork so that communities, businesses and Indigenous peoples in the northwest have a reliable supply of electricity that supports economic growth," said Lesley Gallinger, president and CEO of the Independent Electricity System Operator, in a news release.

"Projects such as this are key to an orderly energy transition that will meet the needs and objectives of future residents, businesses and institutions across our province," she said.

The province's plans for the mining industry in northwestern Ontario, particularly around the lucrative Ring of Fire, have further fuelled the case for the project to get the green light.

"By designating the Waasigan Transmission Line as a priority, we are enabling economic growth and electrification in the North by ensuring the power needed by communities, businesses and Indigenous peoples in the northwest is there for them," said Ontario Minister of Energy Todd Smith in a news release.

A community divided

Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois said she is disappointed and concerned about the dispute. 

"When I talked with [Hydro One] representatives, it sounded to me like there was a genuine commitment really to try and not harm anybody, not harm the community and find good solutions," she told CBC News at Thursday's Neighbours on the Line meeting.

"What I've heard today is that that's not what's happening, and that environmental assessment does not account for any of the conversations that have taken place."

Beyond concerns with the lines themselves, the project is also driving neighbours against each other, spurring judgment over who is signing agreements with Hydro One and who isn't.

"It's sad because it's caused massive division because we know there [are] a lot of people in economic strife as well," said Hamer. "It ends up pegging neighbour up against neighbour."

Hydro One is hosting more open houses to hear community feedback on the draft environmental assessment in mid-June in Dryden, Atikokan, Kaministiquia and Thunder Bay.

"We know we need the power, but at whose expense? Who's going to be paying the price?" asked Vaugeois. "It should not be breaking up a community to do it."