AUC denies ‘due process’ met as almost a dozen rural municipalities rail against renewables

The peasants are revolting.

Meanwhile, the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) continues to insist that nearly a dozen rural towns and villages are offbase in protesting approvals of renewable power projects in their communities.

On Monday the village of Caroline added Hanna, Oyen, Lacombe, Torrington, Milo, Provost, Little Smokey and Sturgeon Lake to the list of towns across Alberta that have had it with the efforts of foreign power developers and the AUC to rip up land use bylaws and override their voices to approve unwanted solar and wind farms.

That came to a head after the AUC on February 28 issued a conditional approval for a 15-megawatt solar plant on private land immediately adjacent the village of Caroline that is almost as large as the town itself.

It spawned a multi-year battle that spanned the COVID-19 pandemic and the UCP government’s moratorium on new renewable projects that was lifted in April of last year.

In it, the AUC cited what it called broad public support from residents in the town of 500, even though nearly half of them turned out for a public meeting to protest the decision and appeal it.

On April 7, the AUC penned a letter to the Rural Alberta Concerned Communities Group (RACCG) informing them that “in the Commission’s view, the applicants have not adequately identified and clearly articulated their grounds for review.” 

It comes even as Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre MLA Jason Nixon — who also happens to be the current Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services — requested the AUC to reconsider the application after Caroline was folded into Clearwater county effective January 1.

But on a Zoom meeting to discuss its reponse, unofficial RACCG spokesman Russell Barnett said representatives from nearly a dozen other communities joined to offer support and find out how they too could fight against renewable power projects in their communities.

Also on Monday, The Western Standard recieved an email — a plea — from residents in Weyburn to give voice to their opposition to a proposed wind farm in their area.

“Our concerns are rooted in facts, lived experience, and a deep commitment to protecting our land, our homes, and our community,” it began.

If it sounds familiar, it is. That’s because rural residents are rising up against renewable projects for all the right reasons: blight, unsecured reclamation liabilities and a general sense that that they are being manipulated by the companies and the regulatory authorities themselves.

Barnett relayed an anecdote that companies are trolling estate sales to secure sales agreements and non-disclosures from aging seniors for their land when they pass away.

“It’s wild,” he says. “That whole agrivotics is in itself a big scam another new word for something that doesn’t exist.”

Meanwhile, Barnett has drafted a letter to Affordability and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf protesting the AUC decision.

Citing MLA Nixon, he wrote: “I believe the issues he identified — land use conflicts, inadequate community consultation, and procedural fairness — reflect a systemic problem across Alberta’s renewable energy approvals that demands urgent action.”

“I urge your office to take decisive action beyond a single project review. I propose an immediate province-wide pause on all new renewable energy project approvals, coupled with a comprehensive assessment of the AUC’s decisions over the last 12 months.”

Meanwhile the RACCG is meeting to agree on a formal response to the AUC, which is being CCed to Premier Danielle Smith, asserting four grounds for review.

“These palpable errors and changed circumstances, including the UCP mandate violation on reclamation, warrant review,” it said.