Letter to the Editor
Editor,
I was pleased to see your detailed article reporting on the local council discussion of the staff report on issues around the TCE pumped storage facility. I am aware of the issues around the actual pumped storage facility, but I think the need for a new high tension transmission corridor wrapping around Meaford and heading southeast toward Barrie is being neglected.
In the early days of this project, an air photo was available with an approximate transmission line marked on it. It came down west of the Seventh Line, cut southeast across the corner of Meaford just missing the golf course but crossing a portion of Miller Street, crossed the Trout Hollow Trail and the Bighead River, and passed just south of the new Gates of Kent development.
Further southeast it would pass just south of Clarksburg, and descend over the escarpment just southwest of Collingwood on its way to the main Corridor transformer station at Essa.
I’m also aware that TC’s most recent information portrays an option for a subsea route through Georgian Bay together with an overland route through and southeast of Wasaga Beach. That simply moves the problem from Meaford to Wasaga Beach.
Of course it’s common to leave the transmission corridor decision to ‘some future point in the process’, postponing what may actually be the most difficult decision of all.
I am particularly disappointed in the staff report which mentions the transmission corridor in passing but does not point out the implications for potentially a large swath of rural Meaford. A high tension line through both the Bighead River valley and the Beaver Valley would be something most local residents would not welcome!
So I am simply writing to encourage more awareness of the transmission corridor implications upfront in the discussion. In my opinion this is the issue that has possibly the greatest implications for Meaford residents.
Thank you,
Stew Hilts
Meaford resident
