The construction site of
the hydroelectric facility at Muskrat Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador is seen
on Tuesday, July 14, 2015. A nagging dread is keeping Craig Chaulk up at night.
He lives downstream from the $12.7-billion Muskrat Falls hydroelectric development
in Labrador. He's among many residents concerned that a crucial part of the
dam, a jut of sand and clay called the North Spur, could give way.THE CANADIAN
PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
ST.
JOHN'S, N.L. — A nagging dread is keeping Craig Chaulk up at
night.
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He lives downstream from the $12.7-billion Muskrat
Falls hydroelectric development in Labrador. He's among many
residents concerned that a crucial part of the dam, a jut
of sand and clay called the North Spur, could give way.
"My biggest fear is that the project will go to
completion, the reservoir will be filled to 39 metres as they're proposing, the
North Spur will fail and this little community that I live in will be wiped
right off the face of this Earth," Chaulk said from his home at Mud
Lake.
The 200-year-old community of about 70 people has
already faced the worst spring flooding anyone there can remember. Chaulk
and dozens of other residents were airlifted to safety May 17 as water
levels swiftly rose after ice jammed where the lower Churchill River meets
Lake Melville.
Crown corporation Nalcor Energy, which is responsible for
Muskrat Falls, has denied it did anything to swamp almost 50
homes and structures. It blamed the incident on spring run-off.
The flood is now under independent review.
Chaulk said that experience has shaken his
confidence in the development — especially as questions persist about the North
Spur.
It's a natural dam of clay and sand that will form a
critical part of the Muskrat Falls project to harness hydro power near
Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Landslides have happened in that
area before.
Chaulk takes no comfort from Nalcor's public
assurances that the North Spur has been stabilized,
protected and reinforced using proven engineering methods endorsed by
third parties.
He's among increasingly vocal skeptics who say it's a
weak link in the megaproject's design that, like the Mud Lake
flood, should be independently reviewed.
They include David Vardy, a former chairman of the
provincial Public Utilities Board, who served as a senior public servant for
almost 30 years. He believes there's a lack of geotechnical evidence
that potentially sensitive clays underlying the North Spur can
withstand the pressure of higher reservoir levels.
Vardy noted the issue was red-flagged in an
internal 2013 risk assessment report by engineering and construction firm
SNC-Lavalin, which designed Muskrat Falls and the North Spur dam.
Natural Resources Minister Siobhan Coady said Friday in a
statement that North Spur groundwater and soil properties "have been
studied by multiple geoscience engineers since 1965."
"The North Spur also meets Dam Safety Guidelines as
outlined by the Canadian Dam Association," she added.
Vardy is not convinced. The North Spur is not
like fully engineered dams, he stressed.
"We need the government to appoint an expert panel," he
said in an interview. "The problem here is, for whatever reason, Nalcor
has decided that this is all perfectly safe."
A group of concerned citizens is also calling
on Premier Dwight Ball to act. In an open letter Wednesday, the Labrador
Land Protectors and Grand Riverkeeper Labrador said they've received no
response to a letter May 9 urging an independent expert review.
The project is already well behind schedule. Costs have
soared from $7.7 billion when the former Progressive Conservative government
approved it in 2012, to $12.7 billion. First power is not expected until 2019.
Nalcor said in a public information session last January
that North Spur stabilization efforts include excavating "high
sensitivity clay" along with sandy soils.
It said cement cut-off walls down to the lower clay
layer will protect the spur, along with rock walls, drainage and relief wells.
"Engineering design was undertaken by qualified
geotechnical engineers," validated by MWH Canada, the project's
independent engineer, and consultant Hatch Ltd., Nalcor said.
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