BC Hydro accused of playing games over power line route

BC Hydro accused of playing games over power line route

Published 8:17 am Friday, October 2, 2026

BC Hydro is deceiving the public over its planned route through Thornhill for a huge hydro-electric transmission line intended to provide power to large-scale northwestern B.C. industrial projects, says a Kitimat-Stikine regional district director.

Speaking at the Sept. 25, 2026 regional district board meeting, James Cordeiro, who is also a City of Terrace councillor and one of two Terrace elected officials on the regional district board, said BC Hydro is employing a bait and switch tactic “to shield the public from what they actually are intending on doing” to build the 500 kV North Coast Transmission Line from Prince George to a substation south of Terrace.

At issue is a meeting first classified as confidential by BC Hydro that was attended by regional district directors only to discover, in their opinion, there was nothing confidential about the meeting.

“I didn’t hear anything during our meeting with them that I personally felt need to be in camera and I didn’t hear anything that I don’t think has been discussed with people impacted and I don’t believe that those people are under some sort of requirement to remain secret about it,” Cordeiro said.

“And in some ways,, the moment I guess when we weren’t having actual negotiations, we probably should have just told them that since we’re not actually having an in-camera meeting, this meeting is now adjourned and we can re-adjourn it in a public forum,” he said.

“I’m not interested in being a party to, in effect, of BC Hydro trying to sneak something past the public because they know very well the reaction they would get if the information that was shared with us was generally known in the public,” Cordeiro said.

Also at issue is the existence of maps outlining BC Hydro’s stated preferred route and whether they have been released for public viewing.

Publicly, the regional district board is commenting on the impacts of BC Hydro’s preferred route on two public use facilities, the Skeena Golf and Country Club and the Terrace Rod and Gun Club.

In a two-page memo, regional district strategic initiatives manager Ted Pellegrino said that while the preferred route would roughly parallel the existing 500 kV line running to the BC Hydro’s Skeena Substation south of Terrace, the existing right of way used by BC Hydro is not wide enough and that a new right of way is necessary.

“In the vicinity of the Skeena Valley Golf & Country Club and Terrace Rod and Gun Club, given the steep terrain in this area, the transmission line is proposed to be situated closer to those facilities with a least one new tower proposed on the golf course property and lines near the ‘backstop’ of the gun range,” he wrote.

Further, Pellegrino said the new line would run through golf club-owned property and through a portion of a Crown land tenure belonging to the rod and gun club.

Pellegrino added that the existing line and two towers are also within a right of way on regional district-owned land acquired to safeguard the aquifer supplying water to Thornhill wells.

The golf club listed nine issues and the rod and gun club eight issues about the proposed new right of way during a meeting with regional district staffers.

“Both clubs indicate the proposed route will affect their current operations and result in financial impacts/losses,” Pellegrino summarized.

The golf club, for example, indicated a new right of way would make it easier for off-road traffic to access the course and damage fairways and putting greens.

For its part, the rod and gun club said it has no “financial capacity to mitigate any changes in range design and standards to accommodate BC Hydro’s proposed route.”

Pellegrino asked the board to direct regional district staffers to present the concerns of the golf club and rod and gun club to BC Hydro and that BC Hydro speak with the two clubs and other property owners affected by the Crown corporation’s route preference.

Terrace mayor Sean Bujtas, who is the second City of Terrace elected official sitting as a regional district board member, presented Pellegrino’s recommendations in the form of a motion. He added that the regional district chair and the regional district director for Area E, which is Thornhill, request meetings with the premier and appropriate ministries. The chief councillors of Kitselas and Kitsumkalum should also be in those meetings, he said.

“I’m willing to go to war here,” Bujtas said.

His motion was seconded by Thornhill regional district director Ted Ramsey. It was passed unanimously.

Speaking outside of the meeting, Bujtas expressed frustration at the BC Hydro approach to property owners.

He said BC Hydro should financially fully cover the full range of impacts on property owners should BC Hydro stick to its preferred route.

BC Hydro’s route plans are also affecting private property owners, including Cody Skog who runs Atlantis Camp and Cabins, a recreational area concentrating on outdoor fitness and training.

“The outdoor camp provides children with opportunities for recreation, physical activity, Taekwondo training, endurance, environmental learning, personal growth and connection with nature,” wrote Skog in a widely-circulated letter on social media asking for support in his dealings with BC Hydro.

“Once a place like this is gone, rebuilding it is not as simple as purchasing another piece of land,” he wrote.

Although BC Hydro’s website emphasizes cooperation, fairness and accommodation in acquiring land for its purposes, the provincial Crown corporation also has the powers of expropriation backing it should other avenues fail.

The North Coast Transmission Line is being built in phases with the one connecting to the Skeena substation starting off from the Telkwa substation.

Leading up to the provincial election call by David Eby on Sept. 22, 2026, the line represented the cornerstone of his government’s plan to industrialize northwestern B.C. with more mines, more LNG facilities and an expanded port at Prince Rupert.

Eby is keeping to the industrialization plan by promising to double the export of critical minerals if re-elected. B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson also needs the new transmission line as he is promising to triple the amount of liquefied natural gas being exported should he become premier.

Because there is no sitting provincial government during an election period, provincial ministries and Crown corporations such as BC Hydro do not typically respond to questions posed by the media.