NDP Leader Earle McCurdy is calling on the premier to ensure Nalcor lives up to a commitment made last fall to release the water in the Muskrat Falls reservoir. In October, after a lengthy meeting with Labrador’s three indigenous leaders, the premier committed to directing Nalcor to release water to normal flow levels so that monitoring and mitigation measures for potential methylmercury poisoning of the river can be put in place.
Nalcor said it would release water from the reservoir this spring to allow the river to return to a natural flow; this in turn would allow work to begin on mitigation measures to reduce the impact of methylmercury on the ecosystem and downstream populations.
“There’s not much left of spring at this stage,” McCurdy said today. Nalcor is now saying it will be mid-July before it lowers the water levels; the NDP Leader wants to know what, if any, penalties are in place if Nalcor again delays the commitment. “Are we going to find ourselves in another last-minute crisis this October again?” he asked.
Nunatsiavut President Johannes Lampe wrote to and met with the Premier recently, and was promised an update from the Premier this week, according to an NG news release.
“In addition to his responsibilities as Premier, Mr. Ball is the Minister Responsible for Labrador,” McCurdy said. “It is his job to ensure that the people of Labrador get the respect they deserve from Nalcor and other government entities.”
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To contact Earle McCurdy, phone 739-6387 or e-mail news@nl.ndp.ca