Cumulative Impacts of IPP Transmission Lines

WHEREAS the Government of British Columbia has granted numerous tenures for power transmission lines to private hydro developers with insufficient consideration of the cumulative overall economic, environmental and social impacts of multiple transmission lines; AND WHEREAS some of these transmission lines have trespassed on established old growth management areas and wildlife tree patches created for environmental protection and enhancement, and have isolated whole forested hillsides resulting in loss of access to timber for the forest industry: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of British Columbia Municipalities call upon the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Agriculture and Land to withhold environmental permits and land tenures for the development of private power projects in order to permit a comprehensive regulatory, environmental and community review of the cumulative impacts of multiple adjacent transmission lines on existing land uses and the consequences for future land uses.