ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The Newfoundland and Labrador government is set to release the report from an inquiry into the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project.
Premier Dwight Ball and Natural Resources Minister Siobhan Coady will address the media this afternoon about the six-volume report, titled “Muskrat Falls: A Misguided Project.”
The inquiry led by Supreme Court Justice Richard LeBlanc ran hearings from fall 2018 through last summer looking into cost and schedule overruns of the $12.7-billion dam on Labrador’s Lower Churchill River.
The provincial government received the report last Thursday and it was reviewed by government lawyers for legal sensitivities before its public release.
The megaproject’s costs have essentially doubled since it was sanctioned in 2012 and it now accounts for about a third of the province’s debt.
Some witnesses over the course of the inquiry suggested estimates were intentionally downplayed and many officials, including former premiers, denied seeing key information about risk.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2020.
The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
