The province learns the dam
Sarah Smellie, Canadian Press – December 17, 2024 / 06:42 | Story: 523197
Photo: Canadian Press
Quebec Premier François Legault and Andrew Furey, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, shake hands after signing a memorandum of understanding during an announcement in St.John’s, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024.
Some in Newfoundland and Labrador are urging the province to take a sober second look at the massive energy partnership with Quebec announced last week.
Historian Jerry Bannister worries the province will repeat the mistakes it made with the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric dam, which crossed the finish line in 2023 after years of delays and billions of dollars in cost overruns.
The Dalhousie University associate professor says politicians promised Muskrat Falls would usher in a new dawn for Newfoundland and Labrador — just as Liberal Premier Andrew Furey did last week when he announced a tentative deal with Quebec.
Bannister says the government must commit to robust oversight of any new hydro installations in the deal — a step the province did not pursue for Muskrat Falls.
The Inuit Nunatsiavut government in Labrador is also warning of mistakes made with Muskrat Falls, urging the government to take precautions so that the land and hunting grounds around the projects are not contaminated.
Aboriginal people in Labrador occupied the Muskrat Falls work site in 2016, and Bannister worries the same will happen to the projects proposed with Quebec if the government is too eager to approve them.
Under the preliminary agreement, Quebec will pay an average price of 5.9 cents per kilowatt-hour for power from the Churchill Falls generating station, giving Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro about $1 billion a year until 2041.
And Hydro-Québec will pay Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro $3.5 billion for the right to upgrade and expand the Churchill Falls facility and build a new hydroelectric plant further down the Churchill River on Gull Island.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on December 17, 2024.
