Update on the Stewart to Keno City Transmission Project

Today's question: Please provide an update on the Stewart to Keno City Transmission Project.

As many people know, the Yukon government, through the Yukon Development Corporation, is providing Yukon Energy with $5.3 million to plan for improvements to the transmission infrastructure in the Central Yukon between Stewart Crossing and Keno City.

We are using this money to complete engineering and permitting for the Stewart Keno Transmission Project. This planning initiative will result in a shovel-ready construction project by the spring of 2017.

No decision has been made yet on if or when construction will proceed.

We're happy to report that the project remains within budget and on schedule.

Environmental studies, impact assessment and mitigation design are complete and we filed a project proposal with the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board in late November.

Two rounds of stakeholder and community engagement were completed. Several changes to the line routing were made in response to concerns raised during the consultations.

The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun continues to be supportive of the project and the Selkirk First Nation (SFN) has also indicated they have no issue with the project.