Fight is on for nuclear plant

Fight is on for nuclear plant

Alberta towns under pressure to move quickly

Hanneke Brooymans, Edmonton Journal

Published: Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Two northern Alberta mayors admit they're under pressure to quickly secure a proposed nuclear power plant for their communities. But the push to land 870 jobs has created the type of momentum that crushes dissent and stifles the democratic process, some people warn.

The plant could be built in Peace River or in Woodlands County, close to the town of Whitecourt.

In Woodlands County, residents appeared before their council Tuesday asking why councillors sent a letter

The letter says the county will help secure a site with proper zoning from the province for the plant.

Woodlands County Mayor Jim Rennie said there will be a six-month to one-year consultation period during which people can say if they want the plant in the community. But that will happen only if Energy Alberta decides it wants to build there, and only if Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. decides the county has a suitable site for the plant.

Rennie feels it's better to secure the opportunity first, and then let the community decide if they want it.

"I sure am trying to sell our community so Woodlands County is at least considered," he said.

Peace River Mayor Lorne Mann said his community would also like to land the plant.

"You would be negligent not to give it the best effort," he said.

"This playing one community against another, it has a distinct historical purpose. It's not just them. All companies attempt to do that, they attempt to get bids. They're making proposals. But this one, where there's so much regulatory and so much federal and provincial involvement, it gives the impression of a big train coming down the track. So it's huge."

Energy Alberta spokesman Guy Huntingford said there has been no attempt by the company to hurry the proposal to build a plant.

"The speed that it goes at is the speed of the regulatory bodies and the speed of the environmental assessment, and so on and so forth," he said.

"The speed of the communities to embrace the potential for the project absolutely was very quick."

Huntingford admits that's partly because there are two communities competing for the plant. But he denies that was a deliberate strategic decision.

The company chose two communities simply because building a nuclear power plant is a complicated exercise with a great number of requirements, he said.