Manitoba Hydro a water rental fee proportionate to the total volume of water passed through the generating stations. Increases in this rental have provided an important stream of non-tax revenue to the Provincial government. While at first glance it may seem superfluous for the provincial government to collect such fees from a company it owns, the government argues that such fees help ensure that Manitobans receive a direct return on that portion of energy resources that is exported. More controversially, in 2002–2004 the New Democratic Party provincial government collected a direct dividend from Manitoba Hydro. This was criticized by the provincial opposition parties for various reasons but mostly as evidence that Hydro rates were unnecessarily high with the excess amounting to a hidden tax. Manitoba Hydro has studied new HVDC transmission lines to run along the east side of Lake Winnipeg. The additional transmission capacity would be required to develop stations at Keeyask and Conawapa. This plan would offset the concentration of transmission lines in the Interlake area (west of Lake Winnipeg and east of Lake Manitoba), and would provide additional security against transmission failures due to adverse weather or other causes. However, this area has no roads and very little development. Some environmentalists argue that this vast area of boreal forest should not be crossed by a transmission corridor. If roads were built at the same time as the lines, these roads would allow year-round access to small First Nation communities east of the lake; some people feel this would have more adverse than beneficial effects for these communities. From an engineering perspective, there is no connection between building a new transmission line east of Lake Winnipeg, and building a road east of the lake. In May 2005, the provincial government announced that it would not consider any route along the east side of Lake Winnipeg, even though the alternative routes through the Interlake region or west of Lake Manitoba would extend the transmission lines, and increase cost. The western route was chosen by the government to protect the proposed UNESCO biosphere reserve on the east side by local First Nations reserves called Pimachiowin Aki. This decision was criticized by 19 former senior Manitoba Hydro engineers, who were in favour of the East side route. A transmission line down the west side of the province could also have adverse environmental effects: several caribou herds use the area near The