Project of high-voltage power line in the Laurentians: angry citizens protest in front of Hydro-Quebec

QMI agency

Sunday, 10 December, 2017 18:51

UPDATE
Sunday, 10 December, 2017 18:54

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The citizens of Saint-Adolphe-d Howard have not said their last word on the controversial proposed high-voltage power line from Hydro-Quebec in the Laurentians.

Sunday, early afternoon, they were dozens supported by supporters to demonstrate in front of the headquarters of the State society on the boulevard René-Lévesque blvd, in Montreal.

The widow of the former prime minister Jacques Parizeau and former mayor of Saint-Adolphe, Lisette Lapointe, was of the number, as the member solidaire Manon Massé, and the prefect of the MRC des pays-d’en-Haut, André Genest.

The event was organized by the advisory Committee of the municipality of Saint-Adolphe-d Howard, who leads a relentless struggle to attempt to convince the relevant authorities, including Hydro-Québec and the prime minister Couillard, to provide for the burial on 10 km of the future high-voltage power line Large-Burned-derivation Saint-Sauveur in the Laurentians, “in order to protect the capital landscape of this region with a vocation for tourism”.

“The decision to hold this event followed that of the prime minister Couillard to grant the landfill part of the eastern Townships for the project Interconnection Québec-New Hampshire, explained the advisory Committee, on Sunday. Last spring, Mr. Couillard was, however, agreed with Hydro-Québec, which was said to reject a landfill on 18 km in the forest Hereford, in Estrie, for questions of cost, durability of equipment, environmental impacts and social acceptability.

“This reversal of the prime minister is welcomed as an injustice by the citizens and elected officials of St. Adolphe and the MRC des pays-d’en-Haut, […].”

During the event, the former mayor Lapointe said that it was “very happy” for the citizens of the Townships that have been successful against Hydro-Quebec, adding that”it is necessary now that the government of Philippe Couillard gives the same treatment to the people of the Laurentians, a question of equity”. “It should not allow Hydro-Quebec to destroy our landscapes and our environment that are the engine of our economy, this would be a flagrant injustice.”

Last August, the municipality had lost a round in its battle when the minister of Energy and natural Resources of the time, Pierre Arcand, had given his support to the company State that the project does not include landfill for this line.

The Large project-Burned – Derivation Saint-Sauveur covers a distance of 42.5 km between the position of the Grand-Burnt to Mont-Tremblant and an existing line that is located between the stations of St-Sauveur and Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. The project was made necessary due to a strong growth of electricity needs in the Laurentides region.