The upcoming Alberta Property Rights Task Force open house at the Olds Cow Palace on Wednesday, Jan. 11 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. is not just for Alberta farmers and landowners.What we must understand is the four land bills will affect every Albertan, whether they live in the country or towns and cities.Bill 50, the Electric Statutes Amendment Act, allows the cabinet to arbitrarily decide that a transmission line will be built, without a needs assessment, and without any public input. This will result in a massive overbuild of the system with the ratepayers picking up the total price! The costs for the proposed lines will triple power costs for homeowners and business. Many businesses have indicated they will not be able to operate in Alberta if prices rise to those levels and will be forced to relocate to other areas. People on fixed incomes, such as seniors, will find it difficult to stay in their homes.The real purpose of these power transmission lines is to allow the big power generators to export power to the U.S.A., without paying for the lines.Bill 24, the Carbon Capture and Storage Statutes Amendment Act, will be a very expensive cost for all Albertans. The Alberta government has already committed $2 billion for startup costs. While this sounds like a large amount it pales in comparison to the yearly costs that will be ongoing for the 30-year life of the contract, which will be at least $30 billion. On top of this the Alberta government will assume all liability for the C02 as the various reservoirs are filled up. High pressure C02 slurry is extremely corrosive to the cement casings in wells and the monitoring and maintenance costs will be large. Alberta is being used as a guinea pig for a carbon capture experiment that has never worked anywhere else in the world.Bill 36, the Land Stewardship Act, is a central planner's dream. No longer will your local municipality have much say on what can be done within your county or town. Those decisions will be made by a bureaucracy in Edmonton with little regard for local conditions or circumstances. This bill will move all decision-making to Edmonton.Bill 19, The Land Assembly Project Area Act, was revised in the recent fall session to the point it is basically useless. It still has some disturbing parts that will affect loans if one tries to use property for collateral at a bank. In reality it is totally useless as the Expropriation Act covers everything necessary for critical infrastructure within the province. It is little more than a nuisance piece of legislation now and should be repealed.All of these bills share one feature. They deny the due process of law ñ the right to challenge any taking of property in a court of law. This is a dangerous precedent if these bills are allowed to stand. For all Albertans, not just rural property owners.All Albertans need to get out to these task force meetings and tell the government they need to repeal these bills.For more information visit our website www.albertasurfacerights.comDon BesterPresidentAlberta Surface Rights Group
