RUSH TO BUILD A BRIDGE IS AT PUBLIC’S EXPENSE
Political agenda, not practical urgency, behind Hydro’s line-relocation project
Tucked inside the provincial budget this week was an intriguing reference to a new project for B.C. Hydro, the top-heavy with debt and projects government-owned electrical utility.
“The South Fraser Transmission Relocation Project,” was the newbie item, costed at $76 million.
The main budget document didn’t spell out what was being relocated or why. But Hydro’s own service plan, released along with the Tuesday budget, disclosed how the shift was prompted by Premier Christy Clark’s determination to move full speed ahead on replacing the George Massey Tunnel under the Fraser with a 10-lane bridge over the river.
“The construction of the new bridge, modifications to Highway 99 and the decommissioning of the tunnel will require Hydro to relocate sections of two 230 kilovolt transmission circuits from their present location adjacent to the highway and inside the tunnel,” explained the service plan.
“These two circuits form a critical part of B.C. Hydro’s transmission network supplying power to customers in Richmond, Delta and the Greater Vancouver area.”
The service plan further disclosed the project was already underway, $5 million of the $76 million having been spent as of Dec. 31.
Thus, Hydro had already started work on relocating the transmission lines before the tunnel replacement project received environmental approval — that happened Feb. 9 — and before the transportation ministry began its own site preparations, which are not scheduled to get underway until next month.
What was all the rush? Well, Premier Christy Clark promised after the last election that construction would be underway before the next one. Though the contract for the replacement bridge is not scheduled to be signed until summer, I guess the Liberals wanted to show things were moving in the right direction before the May 9 election.
While the $76 million ticketed for relocating the transmission line is dwarfed by Hydro’s overall capital plan of almost $8 billion for the next three years, the project was nevertheless added to the list at a critical time.
After multiple warnings from Moody’s, the lead rating agency for provincial government debt, Hydro has lately been trying to improve its balance sheet.
A key change saw the company “re-prioritize capital spending and reduce planned expenditures by about $380 million over the next three years.”
Against that backdrop of restraint, this year’s capital plan includes only two new items of any size since the version tabled in 2016.
One is the $170-million construction project to rectify “inadequate erosion protection on the upstream face” of the 50-year-old W.A.C. Bennett dam on the Peace River.
“The primary driver of the project is safety of the dam itself as well as the safety of the public, property and environment downstream.” Concerns not to be minimized given the vintage 183-metrehigh earth-fill structure and the 60 million acre-feet of water stored behind it.
No such urgency attaches to the relocation of the transmission lines at the Massey tunnel. Rather, it was driven by a political agenda laid down by the premier, not unlike her determination to get construction of the Site C dam “past the point of no return” before the election.
All of which prompted a question to Transportation Minister Todd Stone and Minister for B.C. Hydro Bill Bennett about who will be picking up the tab for this $76-million expedited relocation of the transmission lines.
“The ministry of transportation and infrastructure and B.C. Hydro have been working together to ensure the process to relocate the transmission line from the Massey Tunnel goes smoothly, and to schedule,” advised a joint statement issued Thursday afternoon. “B.C. Hydro has recently begun preparation work, and the ministry is expecting B.C. Hydro to have the relocation work substantially completed by spring 2019.”
As for who will pay, the answer would appear to be that the bill will be shared between the transportation ministry and the utility.
“There are protocols and policies in place, and based on these, the ministry is in discussions with B.C. Hydro about how costs for the project could be shared,” the statement continued.
“There is some funding allocated in the project budget for utilities. Again, the ministry is in discussions with B.C. Hydro on the potential for cost-sharing.”
I can’t see why Hydro should pay for any part of the relocation.
The transmission lines would be fine in their current location if the premier hadn’t vowed to rip out the tunnel and replace it with a bridge.
Ultimately, of course, the bill will be picked up by me and thee, in our capacity as provincial taxpayers, Hydro ratepayers, or commuters across what is slated to be another toll bridge.
Still, it strikes me that the entire $76 million should be charged to the cost of substituting a bridge for the tunnel, in order to preserve a full accounting of the cost of the controversial initiative.
The tunnel replacement project is budgeted at $3.5 billion and the bridge is slated to open in 2022. But both of those targets must contain an element of hope, for the Liberals have yet to complete the bidding process and the final contract won’t be signed until after the election.
B.C. Hydro’s debt was $12 billion when Christy Clark took office as premier in 2011, not, as I wrote Thursday, back when the Liberals took office under Gordon Campbell in 2001. My apologies for the error.
The transmission lines would be fine in their current location if the premier hadn’t vowed to rip out the tunnel and replace it with a bridge.