Marking the end of a years-long review process, the group investigating four proposed major transmission line projects in Alberta has approved a line that will skirt around the city.
The proposed Heartland Transmission line is a 500 kilovolt, double-circuit transmission line that would cover 65 kilometres from south Edmonton to the Heartland region near Fort Saskatchewan.
The Alberta Utilities Commission said the route was chosen over another proposed west-bound route – because of the shorter distance, and will have an effect on fewer people.
Another point which stood out for many people directly affected by the transmission line was the possibility of burying the line.
Throughout the review process, residents living near the proposed line expressed their concern over electric and magnetic fields (EMF), and the effect they could have on the people living and working nearby.
The AUC said the option would not be in the public's interest, due to costs associated with burying the line.
It would cost about $300 million to bury the line.
A spokesperson for the AUC told CTV News there was no difference between having the line above or below ground.
The commission said it found no difference in EMF between buried and non-buried lines, and both would be "much lower, and likely indistinguishable from background magnetic field levels at the nearest residences, schools, daycares, hospitals, and businesses".
However, one condition on the approval of this line is that EMF monitoring is conducted at a school which stands near where the line would go, before and after the line is constructed.
The Alberta Utilities Commission review into the Heartland Transmission Project began in 2009, and the commission said the review included a 25-day hearing, more than 1,300 exhibits, and 170 testified.
The project will cost about $580 million to build.
Officials in Sherwood Park are consulting lawyers to find any grounds the decision can be appealed on.
With files from Kevin Armstrong
