Sometimes you can take on City Hall — in this case, the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) — and win.
Just ask members of the Rural Alberta Concerned Communities Group, who on Monday learned that Rimbey-Rocky Moutain House-Sundre MLA Jason Nixon has formally asked the AUC to reconsider approval for a controversial solar power plant in the hamlet of Caroline, which is home to about 500 residents.
The AUC on February 28 issued approval for an 80-acre,14-megawatt facility on the town’s northern border which is almost as large as the town itself.
On March 18, about 150 determined residents — about a third of the population of the village — gathered in the arena where Canadian figure skating icon Kurt Browning would go on to hone the grit and determination that made him the pride of Caroline and the entire country.
At the meeting, residents appealed directly to the UCP government to step in and live up to the spirit, if not the letter, of its renewable policy that was implemented in March 2024.
A day later — after The Western Standard ran an exclusive story — Nixon put pen to paper to “respectfully” urge the AUC to reconsider the matter in the name of “procedural fairness.”
“I believe it is in the best interest of all stakeholders to ensure that the decision-making process reflects the current municipal framework and adequately considers the perspectives of Clearwater County and its residents,” he wrote.
“A review of this decision would provide an opportunity to assess whether the land use policies and community engagement requirements under the new municipal structure were appropriately addressed.”
Nixon is asking the commission to conduct a formal review under Rule 016 to reconsider issues like land use and community consultation.
It comes as other rural communities grapple with the proliferation of wind and solar projects in their regions, attracted by Alberta’s deregulated electricity market (the only one of its kind in Canada) and partly financed with unrealized future greenhouse gas credits.
After similar facilities went up in Joffre, and more proposed in Hana and Youngstown, residents have had enough.
According to Russell Barnett, the de facto leader of the RCCGC, the AUC has nearly two dozen applications in front of it to more than triple the amount of prime agricultural land “under glass” from solar farms.
The Western Standard has reached out to Barnett for a formal comment.
