Open Letter to Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board and Yukon Department of Energy Mines and Resources:
It appears there is yet another board in the Yukon that is not always doing its due diligence when protecting the public from certain projects; some corporations and government agencies are more privileged than the rest of us citizens.
One item that comes to mind is the 39-kilovolt transmission line Yukon Electrical Company Limited is constructing beside the highway along the Crestview community corridor, farther up the Alaska highway to the Mayo Road cutoff.
Just who is protecting us, the citizens who own property and live beside this transmission line? We were never given any letters of notification of such an application even though our lives will be directly impacted by this project.
You tell us there was an ad in the paper in February, when half the Yukon is in hibernation and the other half is in Mexico or Hawaii.
From your assessment report, one can sum up that your board has more concerns with wildlife, habitat and timber resources than you do with human health.
Where were your deliberations on whether this line will comply to the standards limiting residential exposure to electromagnetic fields and radiation? What about the possible health risks to people from power-line exposure? Where is your study?
I would highly suggest that the Whitehorse branch of YESAB failed to meet the test on this Yukon Electrical application and strongly recommend a review and variance of your decision as well as a government stay on the construction until this review is completed.
Roger Rondeau
Whitehorse