Nalcor CEO Stan Marshall says not all the trees in the Muskrat Falls area were meant to be cleared prior to flooding of the reservoir.
Marshall was responding to images circulating from the impoundment site showing large areas of trees surrounded by rising water.
Photo by Jenny Gear
Photo by Jenny Gear
Marshall provided the update during Nalcor’s second quarter financial results update this morning. He says the tree removal program was never meant to remove all the trees.
He says removing all the trees is impractical especially on steep slopes, and he’s not aware of any other impoundment site where all the trees have been removed. He says as the trees float up, they’re removed, which is all part of the plan.
Nalcor Reports Increased Profit in First Half of 2019
Nalcor is reporting an increase in profit for the six months ending June 30, 2019.
Profit for the first half of the year was $119-million compared to $115-million for the same period in 2018.
A big part of that increase resulted from Nalcor importing energy from Nova Scotia, and higher revenue from interim rates.
Some of that profit was offset by higher royalties paid to the province by oil and gas and a decrease in revenue from lower volumes of energy available for export and lower export prices.
COO Derek Sturge says that may not repeat into the next six months.
