With Muskrat Falls almost complete the next phase of the Lower Churchill project, Gull Island, looms on the horizon. While nothing official has been said about when the project will go ahead or how it will be financed, it is the next step in the development and is expected by many to go forward.
Members of the Labrador Land Protectors (LLP), Grand River Keepers and allies from the island and beyond held a virtual meeting recently to discuss Gull Island and how to resist it going forward.
“It’s something that’s always been on our radar, the approval that was given was for the whole project, with Muskrat Falls just being Phase 1. We’ve always known that Gull Island was in the sights of the province,” said Denise Cole, communications director for the LLP and a board member of Grand Riverkeepers.
The groups have raised concerns for years about the environmental impacts of the project and the lack of consultation with peoplewho will be affected before it was sanctioned.
Initially, when the Lower Churchill project was proposed ,Gull Island was to be Phase 1 but that was changed due to cost and logistics. Gull Island will produce approximately three times as much power as Muskrat if completed and will be the third significant dam on the Churchill River.
Cole said, for them, that just means the same issues as Muskrat Falls, but amplified.
“It’s three times the size of what’s happened at Muskrat Falls and that adds to the impacts,” she said. “How much more flooding will happen? How will they mitigate methylmercury? What will that look like for habitat loss and our connection to the land and waters? It raises a lot of questions.”
The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change released by the federal government references hydroelectricity as a clean energy source and as a way to reduce emissions.
“New capacity will come from non-emitting sources — including hydro, wind, and solar — as well as natural gas,” the report reads.
Cole said something they find concerning is how the federal government has trumpeted hydroelectric power as a clean energy source, but it’s anything but for the people who live near the sites of the dams.
“They continue to say mega-hydro is clean and green but we know that’s false,” she said. “We want to see government step up and stop looking at megaprojects as the answer and start looking at things like solar and wind.”
She said they understand some people may be exhausted after the years of fighting Muskrat Falls and seeing the project go ahead regardless, but many won’t stop the fight.
Having people from other parts of the province and the country join the recent virtual meeting and commit to helping showed they aren’t alone, Cole said.
“We had allies from Newfoundland, right across to B.C. and the States. It shows us that even though we may think things are gone quiet there is a still a loud collective voice coming together.”
Evan Careen is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering Labrador for SaltWire Network
