On Wednesday Ontario,s Energy Minister Brad Duguid announced that Hydro will build a new transmission line from Dryden to Pickle Lake. This announcement was actually made earlier so is not new as it was one of many proposed new lines. One of those proposed lines was to go around the East and North ends of Lake Superior, that one was turned down.

The Mussewhite Mine north of Pickle has been operating for years with less transmission line power then required to run the mine. Currently that mine only has a shelf life of a few more years so it does not seem that they are going to build that line for Musselwhite? Duguid also said that it is up to the Federal Government to ensure that remote First nations have Hydro so any expansion beyond Pickle will be up to them. Webequie is only one of many Reserves in the Pickle area that could benefit from Hydro.

It seems to me that any hydro line to the ROF would be better going north from Nakina but with the Government committed to setting aside 50% of the north and with a Webequie route perhaps going through a less sensitive area, who knows?

I'm not sure this new line has anything to do with the ROF but the development of the ROF area seems to get more confusing everyday.

Puppin