Yukon Energy has officially filed its proposal for a new 172-kilometre transmission line between Carmacks and Stewart Crossing.

The Crown corporation announced Monday it had delivered the eight-centimetre-thick document on Oct. 13 to Dale Eftoda, chair of the Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Assessment Board (YESAB).

The route selected runs primarily down a 500-metre wide corridor that parallels the North Klondike Highway.

The extension would eventually tie the Whitehorse-Aishihik-Faro grid to the Mayo-Dawson line, though Yukon Energy anticipates building the $31.2-million line in two segments, of which Yukon ratepayers will be expected to pay half.

Yukon Energy proposes to build the Carmacks-to-Pelly extension initially, for an estimated cost of $18 million to $20 million (2005 dollars).

The corporation's 20-year capital plan, scheduled to be reviewed in two weeks by the Yukon Utilities Board, indicates ratepayers will provide an estimated $8.8 million for the first segment. The new Minto mine near Minto Landing, which is currently under construction, is expected to pay $4.7 million, and the Yukon government $5 million, says the 20-year plan.

Yukon Energy's proposal submitted to the YESAB indicates the corporation is aiming to have the Carmacks-Pelly extension built in time to supply a spur line to the Minto mine by the summer of 2008.

The proposal is suggesting the segment from Pelly Crossing to Stewart Crossing will be on-line for the summer of 2009, with ratepayers providing $7.8 million in funding and the Yukon government $5 million.

While there is a cost to ratepayers as an addition to the rate base, the 20-year plan notes there will be significant revenues from the Minto mine and the Western Copper mine, which is currently going through its environmental assessment work.

The YESAB's chair explained Tuesday that if the process goes well, and Yukon Energy is able to satisfy any outstanding information it needs, it would not be unreasonable to have a recommendation from the board by next summer.

Yukon Energy's proposal is the first high-level assessment that will be handled entirely by the board's executive committee. There have, however, been some 300 smaller applications run through the six district offices since last November, when the YESAB began administering the territory's new environmental screening regime.

Once the board finalizes its report, it will file it with the decision bodies, which in this case will be the Yukon government, the three Northern Tutchone first nations, and likely a federal entity like the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Eftoda said.

Under the new legislation created through the Yukon's land claim process, first nations are part of the decision body if a proposal affects their settlement lands.

Yukon Energy points out in its submission to the YESAB that it has entered into memorandums of understanding with the three first nations which indicate general support for the project.

The first nations will receive the right to sole-source contracts for all clearing and grubbing of the right-of-way required for the transmission line.

'It is expected that the final project agreement with the NTFN (Northern Tutchone first nations) will provide the opportunity and preference for qualified NTFN citizens to be employed by Yukon Energy contractors working on the project,' says the submission to YESAB.

Attached to Yukon Energy's submission are three letters from the chief of the first nations.

Chief Eddie Skookum of the Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation, and Chief Darren Isaac of the Selkirk First Nation both indicated their first nations have some issues with the route selection.

But both also indicated they did not feel there was any need to hold up the YESAB process, and that the issue could likely be sort out during the environmental review process.

The line extension is the anchor for Yukon Energy's $45-million, 20-year vision that will be presented to the utilities board beginning Nov. 14.

Premier Dennis Fentie has stated emphatically that before any of the key components in the 20-year plan go forward, each will be reviewed individually by the board through another set of project-specific hearings.

He said Tuesday nothing has changed with the Yukon Party position. The government, he added, will wait to see the findings of the utilities board from this month's hearing before it decides how to proceed.

The matter of the $10-million-plus cost overrun for the Mayo-Dawson line is still submersed in legal wrangling.

The project, started in 2001 under the short-lived Liberal government, was never reviewed by the board, and Fentie maintains his government will not let that happen again.

Yukon Energy president David Morrison, however, explained recently Yukon Energy has not received any instructions from cabinet to hold a second set of hearings into the four key projects outlined in the resource plan.

Until Yukon Energy does receive cabinet instructions, it is proceeding as though this month's hearings will be all that is required for approval of the plan by the utilities board and the specific projects.

The corporation expects the line extension will increase its ability to sell more of the existing surplus of energy being produced currently at the Whitehorse and Aishihik dams.

Eftoda explained the executive committee, made up of himself, Stephen Mills and Scott Kent, have 60 days from the time the proposal is filed to determine if the information provided is sufficient to conduct an assessment.

The board, however, can request additional information or decide at any time during the two months that what it has is sufficient to proceed, the chair explained.

Eftoda said once the decision to proceed is made, there is an initial public review period of 30 days which can be extended to 60 if a formal request is made.

The board will then have up to 120 days to prepare its draft report to be circulated for a further public review of 30 days, followed by a three-week period to review any comments received and finalize the report.

'And then we send the report off to the decision body, which in this case is the three first nations, the territorial government and quite likely a federal department,' he said.