Parts of 249 Private Properties needed to improve the transmission relationship to Nova Scotia, says NB Power – Yahoo News Canada

New Brunsuick and Nova Scotia are ready to start building the first phase of a large joint project that they say will help them to reserve their commitment to remove coal by 2030.

The inter -provincial electric transmission line will cover 160 kilometers from Salisbury, New Montrtone, to a substation in Onlosu, near Trura.

Merrmcaoque’s home of Muriel Belivo will be in the shade of the new show tower. She is one of 249 property owners who will lose part of their lots or homes to the line.

The senior was one of several dozen people who attended an open house for the project this week hosted by NB Power. Open houses in Salisbury, Tantramar and Memramkuk are all areas in which the transmission line will pass.

Environmental impact assessment identifies a total of 267 properties that a power line will cross a total of 313 hectares. Of these, 249 are privately owned and many of those real estate owners from the Memramcook area have attended the recent open home.

“We thought we were coming today, we would have more answers. But there are still many unknowns,” said Beli, who lives on Royal Road.

Watch | NB Power to take the right to the part of the private land “for the greater good”:

Part of her family property will be under a nB Power easement for the next 75 years.

This means that usefulness can use the land for the right on the road, build towers and supports and install underground or over grounding wires, but the resident will still be owned by the property.

“This is not the full land,” she said. “I only lose the part in which I do my gardening.”

Bob Garland, the project director, said the property owners had no choice.

“NB Power has the right to alienate – we don’t accept it lightly,” he said. “In terms of choice, this is ultimately for the better.”

Bob Garland, director of the project of the inter -provincial transmission line, says that it will shudder the existing line, which was built in the 1970s, “essentially a doubling on it.” (Victoria Walton/CBC)

According to the documents, “when land negotiations are not successful, the alienation process will begin.” Property owners will receive “compensation, as the case” for their land, which will be agreed individually.

Garland said the project would lick the existing line, which was built in the 1970s, “essentially a doubling of it.”

As she is becoming upset with the loss of her garden, she is also worried about her neighbors, some of which will have to pack and move.

“My neighbor has to move and they take over his house,” she said. “So this is the sad part, to lose such a wonderful neighbor.”

Belliveau said the transmission line changes the direction of its property, the largest of the three structures of the tower that NB Power will use for the project will be in its visual area.

“So it will just be like a lot of this structure where there were trees and birds and all the beautiful things,” she said.

There are three types of towers that will use the project for the transmission line of the international transmission, depending on the location. (Victoria Walton/CBC)

Another neighbor Joselin Richard said she had breast cancer and went through outdoor heart treatment and surgery in 2016. She is worried about the impact that the electromagnetic field can have on her health.

“My house is not bought, but it will be 140 feet from my house,” Richard said. “As if you are receiving radiation all the time.”

The NB Power website for the transmission line is connected to Health Canada documents, which show that there is no evidence that the “extremely low frequency” electromagnetic fields, which are defined as less than 300 Hertz, cause harm.

But for Richard, it is not the confidence she wanted.

“I am affected and live there, but they are more concerned about the environment than for us, the people who live in their house so close to power lines,” she said.

Jocelyn Richard dealt with breast cancer and outdoor surgery and is worried about the impact on her health from having energy transmission lines near her home. (Victoria Walton/CBC)

Initially, Richard told NB Power to buy the house and it would be forced to move. But the lines were moving slightly and now it can remain. Or, more recently, she is forced to stay.

“I don’t know what to do. That’s where to go?” she said. “Even now, people know, they already know there will be another power line. So this can affect the sale of my house and the price I can receive.”

Belivo says that this caused a lot of anxiety and stress among her and her neighbors.

“I do not want to lose the value of my property, but I am not in the financial profit. And I am sure that other people in the room who lose their homes are not for financial profit,” she said.

Evgeny Gauro says he was surprised when he heard that the project was progressing faster than he was initially told. (Victoria Walton/CBC)

“They would prefer to stay in their home and continue to do what they always did – to harvest the ground and just wake up and listen to the birds.”

Some residents of the Open House Memramcook have expressed concern that the process of public consultation is too late and the project is moving faster than they expected, but in the end they support the project.

“The last time I talked to a NB Power man, he told me it could be up to five years. Now, six months later, they come together and in another six months they will start,” Eugene Gaureo, who lives in Memramcaoque East, he said.

“So this is a big surprise to us.”

Gauro said the line would cross the tree line near his property. And while he wants to be more informed, he has no problems with the project itself.

“It’s like a business,” he said. “They have to do what they need to do.”

Impact on the natural environment

In January 2025, NB Power presented an environmental impact assessment of the Ministry of Environment to review their part of the project.

It identifies 10 species at risk, seen during field studies in 2022 and 2023, including the bald eagle, bank swallow, swallow for barn, butterfly of a monarch, wooden turtles and two types of bats.

“We did bird studies. We hired a consultant to walk all over the line and identify water bodies and species at risk,” Garland said.

The new transmission interpretation line will work in parallel to the existing one, which was built in the 70s. (Victoria Walton/CBC)

There are also 206 groundwater wells in the project area, all used as sources of home drinking water.

The nearly 650-sized document includes mitigation measures such as operational machines in “previously disturbed areas when possible” and avoiding wetlands when building tower structures “unless absolutely necessary.”

The Ministry of Environment will have the opportunity to ask questions about the document that NB Power will have to answer.

But Garland says that “there is nothing special about the environment we are aware of at the moment.”

The project is still in the planning phase, with construction expected to start in both provinces in 2026.

“This is what started as an Atlantic contour, the evolution of the Atlantic contour,” Garland said. New Scotia is called NS-NB reliability.

New Scotia will file the account of the overall phase 1, including the New Bunsuit part of the line. In 2023, it was estimated that the common project in both provinces, including the extension of phase 2 to Point Leproau, would cost $ 1.4 billion.