A family living near the Heartland Transmission line is filing an application with the court of appeal to review the decision to approve the line.
The Shaw family lives in Sturgeon County close to where the substation and transmission line are to be located.
They had their lawyer Keith Wilson present Tuesday morning for the first step of the appeal.
Wilson says the Alberta Utilities Commission failed to consider the socioeconomic impacts of the line.
He also says political interference by the Premier and the Minister of Energy was made in favour of the line.
“We pointed out to the court that that creates reasonable apprehension of bias and denies the Shaw family the right to a fair hearing.”
Wilson says he is happy with Tuesday’s proceeding.
“(The judge) seemed to recognize the unusual nature of the political intervention.” adding, “The judge certainly seemed to be alive to both the sensitivities about the commission being faced with this new bill 50 law, having never dealt with it before, and the fact that the commission ruled it could not consider all the socio economic evidence against the project.”
Wilson says today’s proceedings are the first in a two step process and expects a decision within the next month.
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