ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Premier Dwight Ball says he takes some responsibility for missing the deadline for wetland capping at the Muskrat Falls project.
Ball was the last witness of Phase 2 of the Muskrat Falls Inquiry and was again pressed on why the deadline was missed.
Ball says he wanted capping done.
“Do I share some of the concerns about this and some of the responsibility? Of course, I do. I was actually talking about and getting, on a regular basis, updates on methylmercury increases in that reservoir,” Ball told reporters after his testimony on Friday.
“It would be obvious to me that if I was concerned and asking questions about this and everyone would have known that I wanted to see wetland capping done, to the point where Nalcor reached out to get a permit. People must have known that I wanted to do wetland capping.”
Wetland capping would see soil and rock pushed atop wetlands near the Muskrat Falls reservoir to prevent heightened amounts of methylmercury from accumulating. The cost of the capping is estimated at $30 million, had it been completed.
The Independent Expert Advisory Committee got agreement from all Indigenous groups involved to go ahead with wetland capping in April 2018.
The expectation, according to Ball, was the capping would take place as part of Nalcor’s fish habitat compensation plan, which has been in development since 2006. Nalcor applied for a permit for wetland capping separate from the compensation plan in July 2018, and it’s there something went wrong.
Ball says while he was vocal about wetland capping, the permit was not approved by the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment (MAE). When Ball was informed that the permit hadn’t been issued, it was Jan. 9, 2019: too late for pre-impoundment capping.
Ball says he asked officials to find another way to get the capping done, as referenced in a report by SNC-Lavalin that raised the possibility of wetland capping after the reservoir was flooded. But safety risks associated with post-impoundment capping means it is unable to occur, according to Ball.
“It’s pretty frustrating for me. We actually took this with the officials in MAE to a cabinet meeting on January 9, 2019, given approval for wetland capping,” he said.
“Subsequent to that cabinet meeting that through the officials, the deputy ministers, working committee related to the Lower Churchill project. This committee had several meetings in 2018. As far as I know this issue was not raised.”
Ball points out that anticipated spikes in methylmercury levels in the reservoir to-date have not been seen. He mused whether the recommendation to cap the wetlands would have happened, had current methylmercury data been available.
“The capping, the wetland capping, when you look at the evidence that I just mentioned here, you have to wonder if the IEAC would have been the same if they had the data that’s now available However, I did feel there was intangible benefits,” he said.
“There’s a lot of stress and anxiety that had been created by people close to this issue, particularly in Labrador, but outside of Labrador as well, that there were intangible benefits. We’re not going to see any significant reduction, one of two per cent, no human health risks based on that data that was there.”
Now, Ball says government will continue to monitor the methylmercury levels at the Muskrat Falls reservoir.
Justice Minister Andrew Parsons was Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment at the time Nalcor’s permit was received by MAE, following the ousting of MHA Eddie Joyce from the Liberal caucus in March 2018.
For a second day, Parsons was unavailable for comment for this story.
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