After years of delays and billions in cost overruns, the Muskrat Falls project is finally considered commissioned.
The project first received sanction under Premier Kathy Dunderdale in 2013, but by 2021 it had become a proverbial $10,000 millstone around the neck of each and every Newfoundlander and Labradorian, with costs ballooning from $7.4 billion to $12.7 billion seven years later.
Former Nalcor CEO Stan Marshall, who took over from Ed Martin famously called the project a “boondoggle.”
Stan Marshall File Photo
An elaborate rate mitigation deal with the federal government was subsequently reached to prevent rate payers from seeing their electricity bills skyrocket.
In the meantime, work has been continuing on the project, the final phase of which was stress-testing on the Labrador-Island Link.
Hydro CEO Jennifer Williams told reporters today that testing on the LIL over the weekend proved successful, and Muskrat Falls is now considered commissioned.
She says it is a “huge moment,” noting that she “broke down crying in the Dominion parking lot” on the weekend while it was happening.
When asked why it is such an emotional moment, Williams once again became emotional, pointing to how this process has affected employees at Hydro.
Williams states that people at Hydro have been “crapped on a lot” and it really bothers her. She hopes that some of the weight has been lifted off of those workers.
An official commissioning date will be announced in the near future.
