Transmission line groundwork begins

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This article was published 17/01/2019 (1925 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Hydro is alerting local landowners and municipalities to pre-construction activity planned over the next six weeks as it awaits final approval of its new transmission line to Minnesota.

Geotechnical drilling began Monday and will wrap up in late February, Maggie Bratland, a senior environmental specialist with Manitoba Hydro, said in a letter to affected municipalities.

Four crews are working eastward from Winnipeg and will arrive in the La Broquerie and Ste Anne areas early next month, weather permitting, said Hydro spokesperson Bruce Owen.

The Crown corporation has hired Maple Leaf Drilling to take soil samples at proposed tower locations. The data will inform the project’s final design.

A track-mounted drill rig will take samples at locations accessible by vehicle, while a helicopter and aerial rig will be used in more remote locations. Holes will be five inches in diameter and 50 feet in depth. No brush clearing is planned.

Easement agreements were secured for private properties, while a work permit from the province was obtained for activity on Crown land.

Hydro hopes to minimize the environmental footprint of the work by completing it while the ground is frozen, it explained in a notice to property owners.

The proposed transmission line was approved by the National Energy Board last November, but federal and provincial governments have yet to give the $453 million project a green light.

The route, more than 200 kilometres in length, begins near Rosser and runs through the RMs of Ritchot, Springfield, Tache, Ste Anne, La Broquerie, Stuartburn, and Piney on its way to Minnesota.