EUB trying to circumvent the courts? News Release by Lavesta Group, October 12, 2007
(Rimbey, Alberta) On September 30, 2007 the EUB retro-actively cancelled, or voided, all three hearings dealing with a controversial 500 KV transmission line from Edmonton to Calgary. The unorthodox decision was issued with less than 36 hours remaining, before the EUB was required to appear in front of a Court of Queen’s Bench judge to defend itself against the accusations it spied on landowners participating in a hearing. It is the position of the Lavesta Area Group that the EUB issued its September 30th decision in an attempt to circumvent the courts. The September 30th decision, we say, is akin to a bank-robber running out of a bank with a sack full of money, and upon observing the police lined-up outside the bank; the robber tosses the money back in the door and calls upon everyone to start the day over from the beginning.
Today the Lavesta Area Group filed documents in the Alberta Court of Appeals questioning the EUB jurisdiction to void decisions, particularly in the context or perception of attempting to circumvent a court judgment. Our position is that the EUB jurisdictional authority does not supersede that of the Courts. If the EUB wants to admit what it did was wrong, much the same as a bank-robber caught in the act, the EUB can add that to their argument in front of the court. [Emphasis added]