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DAM-L duluth tribune article <fwd> from Manitoba gov't's D. Flannagan
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From: "Donne Flanagan" <dflanagan@leg.gov.mb.ca>
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Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 18:57:08 -0000
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Subject: [harmful-hydro] FYI: Today's Duluth News Tribune article
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July 24, 2000
Foes hope to highlight project's environmental problems
Rivers Awareness Tour
By Steve Kuchera
News Tribune staff writer
Opponents of the proposed Arrowhead-Weston high-voltage transmission
line believe the project would create a 250-mile-long swath of
environmental destruction and increased hardships for Cree Indians
living in Manitoba.
To draw attention to their concerns, power-line foes begin a weeklong
trek from near Duluth to Keshena, Wis., Friday. Along the way, the
group will hold paddles, hikes and social events to deliver its
message.
``We think environmental costs are being left out of this debate,''
said Linda Ceylor, a spokeswoman for Save Our Unique Lands, one of
the organizers of the Rivers Awareness Tour.
``Once you've built the line, it's there,'' she said. ``If we decide
in five years that we don't need it, are they really going to say
`OK, we'll take it out?' We can't just put things back the way they
were.''
Project supporters say the 345-kilovolt line that Minnesota Power and
Wisconsin Public Serv_ice Corporation want to build between
Hermantown and Wausau, Wis., will increase the reliability of the
region's electrical system and help Wisconsin meet its growing energy
needs.
Project opponents worry that the line will harm property values,
health and the environment. They say greater emphasis should be put
on conservation, renewable energy sources and on small power plants
built where the electricity is needed.
``An ecological approach to energy stresses conservation and the
alternatives available in the Midwest,'' said Kevin O'Brien,
spokesman for Minnesota Witness for Environmental Justice, which is
also involved in the rivers tour.
Beyond backyards
Much of the media attention on the power-line debate has focused on
the concerns of property owners along the line, creating an
impression that opposition to the line is a not-in-my-backyard
reaction, said Ann Stewart, another event organizer.
``But there are other issues, which are the ecological and the
bioregional ones, the effects of transmission lines crossing wild and
scenic areas,'' she said. ``This line would cross a lot of special
places.''
The line would cross several rivers along its route, as well as pass
through forests, farms and wetlands. A draft environmental impact
statement done by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin found
the Arrowhead-Weston line has a greater potential to harm the
environment than three possible alternatives elsewhere in the state.
The Arrowhead-Weston line, however, is the only one that utility
companies have asked to build. And the firms say they will do what
they can to limit environmental damages.
``At all of the major streams and rivers we will use existing rights
of way, and most of those are transmission lines,'' said Bob
Lindholm, senior environmental compliance specialist with Minnesota
Power.
Lindholm has met with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
and Public Service Commission, the National Park Service and U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers to discuss ways to reduce the environmental
impact of the line. There have been discussions about improving the
scenic qualities of some rivers by having Minnesota Power pay to
redesign local power grids to eliminate several distribution lines
currently crossing the rivers.
There is no single route planned for the line. There are several
possible routes, each with pros and cons. Some routes run through
more remote areas -- keeping it away from people but breaking up
forests, which can affect animals, such as timber wolves, that
require solitude. Others make greater use of existing power or
pipeline right of ways -- reducing the problem of forest
fragmentation but bringing the line into close proximity to a larger
number of people.
It will be up to the Public Service Commission to decide if the need
for the line outweighs its environmental impacts and which, if any,
of the routes it will follow.
The commission's staff is working on a final environmental impact
statement, and is expected to begin hearings on the proposed line
this fall.
Beyond the U.S. border
One issue the commissioners won't consider, but that some power-line
foes want people to be aware of, is the controversy between the Cross
Lake Cree and Manitoba Hydro. Four members of the Cross Lake (or
Pimicikamak) Cree Nation are scheduled to attend the River Awareness
Tour.
``Part of this event is to make people aware that there is a problem
in Manitoba,'' Ceylor said. ``It's something that has to be faced.
It's not just about us in our backyards.''
The conflict between the Cross Lake Nation and Manitoba began in the
1970s, when Manitoba Hydro built dams on Nelson River north of
Winnipeg, flooding large tracts of land.
The flooding released mercury locked in the soils, polluting water
and fish. Fluctuating water levels, erosion and trees washed into the
reservoir have made water travel difficult and harmed wildlife. All
this, critics say, have devastated the Cree.
``You took a vibrant subsistence culture and destroyed it and are
replacing it with handouts,'' said Stewart, a lobbyist for the Cross
Lake Nation.
Four of the five Cree First Nations affected by the hydro projects
have accepted settlement packages totaling more than $350 million in
compensation. Some of the nations support further development.
The Cross Lake Cree, however, haven't reached a final settlement with
the company or province (which owns Manitoba Hydro) and don't want
development they view as destructive.
If Arrowhead-Weston is built, O'Brien said, ``It will give Manitoba
Hydro the rationalization to double the amount of construction in
northern Manitoba.''
Manitoba Hydro's hydroelectric capability totals 5,003 megawatts, 60
percent of which is sold within the province. The company has an
untapped potential of another 5,000 megawatts.
By comparison, the Arrowhead-Weston line's normal capacity would be
600 megawatts, with the ability to carry up to 750 megawatts for
brief periods of time. And if it is built, the line would carry
electricity from a number of different sources, Minnesota Power
spokesman Terry Johnson said.
Trying to link Arrowhead-Weston with future, large-scale expansions
of Manitoba Hydro is ``one of those unfortunate exaggerations we are
trying to contend with some of the folks campaigning in the U.S.''
said Donne Flanagan, a Manitoba government spokesman. ``They are
proponents of things like wind and solar and don't like hydro energy.
They have thrown some of the legitimate, long-standing issue of the
folks at Cross Lake into the middle of their campaigns.''
O'Brien's group, Minnesota Witness for Environmental Justice, is
pressuring the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to cancel a
contract between Northern States Power and Manitoba Hydro. The group
urges more investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
``The Minnesota electricity consumer is purchasing a product from
Manitoba Hydro that doesn't meet our minimal Minnesota standards for
the environment and human decency,'' O'Brien said.
A new provincial government took office last year and has a greater
commitment to working with Manitoba's aboriginal peoples, Flanagan
said.
``There is no denying there has been devastation caused by hydro
development over the years,'' Eric Robinson, Manitoba's Minister of
Aboriginal and Northern affairs and a member of the Cross Lake Cree
Nation, said. ``As a new (provincial) government we are determined to
correct some of those wrongs that have been imposed upon our people.''
``We have been misrepresented by environmental groups,'' Robinson
said. ``It's my hope that these groups are not trying to achieve
their own ends by using the suffering and misery of Indian people.''
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