SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Deze Energy Corporation has been given until Feb. 7 to submit more specific information on the route of a transmission line to the NWT diamond mines for its proposed expansion of the Taltson River hydroelectric site.

Deze Energy Corporation, which is proposing an expansion of the Taltson River hydroelectric facility, has until Feb. 7 to provide more information on the route of a transmission line to the NWT diamond mines. - NNSL file photo

In a Jan. 10 letter, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board asked Deze Energy to submit a revised proposal for the transmission route around the East Arm of Great Slave Lake that avoids crossing the Lockhart River and an environmental analysis.

The revision stemmed from protest of a transmission line crossing and potentially causing environmental damage to Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation land.

"The review board recognizes that the developer may not be in a position to provide the exact routing as adjustments may be required during the engineering design," reads the letter signed by Vern Christensen, the review board's executive director. "The developer should provide a general route and any new information available on likely environmental impacts from any routing within the chosen corridor."

In August, the review board approved the $700-million Taltson project, which includes a 690-km transmission line, and sent the report to the federal government for acceptance.

Last month, the federal government rejected the board's report, which was deemed incomplete and sent it back for further consideration.

Deze Energy is being asked to outline a general route, said Martin Haefele, the review board's manager of environmental impact assessments. "Obviously, we don't need it down to the nearest one metre kind of thing. So we want a route that gives an approximation of where they're going to go."

Haefele said the deadline for a response is fair and designed to move the process along in a timely manner.

Dan Grabke, managing director of Deze Energy, said the corporation can meet the Feb. 7 deadline.

"I think we'll be in advance of that," he said, adding it will involve a rephrasing of information. "There's not a great deal of new information to come out."

Grabke said the review board wants clarity as to what route Deze is proposing.

"Their ruling was you can't cross the Lockhart, so we're faced with just the other alternatives that we gave," he said. "And so they're saying you just have to pick one and say which one it is."

Grabke explained the route will be in the Fort Reliance area on the east side of Great Slave Lake.

Grabke added Deze Energy will look at ways to reduce the visual pollution by methods such as low-profile towers, following the lay of the land and possibly an underwater cable.

Following Deze's Feb, 7 submission, other parties will be given 30 to 60 days to offer input on the project, depending on the volume and complexity of the material already received.

The Taltson River hydroelectric site, 64 km north of Fort Smith, produces 18 megawatts of electricity. The proposed expansion would add between 36 and 56 megawatts.

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