In 2007 Manitoba Hydro announced plans to construct a new hydroelectric transmission line at a cost of $2.2 billion. Now, in a document leaked to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, that estimate has almost doubled to $4.1 billion. Manitoba Hydro President Bob Brennan acknowledged that the price of the project has risen due to increased converter station construction costs, but does not believe that $4.1 billion is an accurate estimate. Costs of the project have already risen by $640 million after the provincial government mandated that the project be constructed on the West side of Lake Winnipeg, rather than the East side, in order to avoid a boreal forest and First Nation reserve lands. This decision added 50 percent to the length of the transmission line.