Premier scuttles power line plan for Lower Churchill

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland, Canada 9/2/09 (PennWell) – Transmission lines from the Lower Churchill hydropower project in western Newfoundland will not run through Gros Morne National, said Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams.

Williams told the Energy Council of Canada that the province will need federal help to map a path around the national park. Plans to build 40-meter high power lines through the national park were met with strong opposition.

The plan would have created an “eyesore” in one of Newfoundland’s best tourist attractions, Williams said. He said the route around the park will be more costly and that Ottawa should share the additional cost.

In 2008, three energy companies, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, Emera Inc., and Emera subsidiary Nova Scotia Power Inc., announced they would explore options for exporting power from the proposed 2,824-MW Lower Churchill project to Canada’s Maritime provinces, including Nova Scotia, and to New England in the United States. (HydroWorld 1/15/08)