Top Muskrat manager defends project team and his alleged resistance to oversight

A key Muskrat Falls architect has defended the qualifications of the team put in place to manage the project and countered suggestions he was resistant to independent oversight of the controversial hydroelectric project.

Paul Harrington began two days of testimony Wednesday at the public inquiry investigating why the Lower Churchill Project is billions over budget and years behind schedule.

One of the first series of questions from inquiry co-counsel Irene Muzychka was about the calibre of the mostly male team — all independent consultants paid hefty day rates, as much as $1,600 in some cases — put together to oversee the project on behalf of government-owned Nalcor Energy.

A narrative that has emerged from the inquiry is that the team was dominated by people from the oil and gas industry who were ill-prepared to manage a hydro generating and transmission project that stretched across Newfoundland and Labrador.

Muzychka came armed with evidence suggesting people like Lance Clarke, Scott O'Brien, Jason Kean and Darren Debourke were not qualified to take on such such leadership roles at Muskrat.

"How would you respond to the criticisms that those individuals were hired based on their connection to other members of the Nalcor team through Petro-Canada and Terra Nova, and not on their relevant technical experience and knowledge?" asked Muzychka.

"I don't agree with that because I believe they're extremely competent individuals," Harrington replied.

Muzychka said Debourke, who was hired as an area manager for the transmission lines and switching stations, had "very limited technical knowledge of power supply, and no equivalent experience on converter stations or switchyard sites."

She said there were multiple candidates with more experience than Debourke, but they were not hired.

Debourke's duties included visiting companies who had bid on supply contracts for Muskrat and evaluating their merit.

"It would strike one that having at least an electrical engineering background and some experience with HVDC [high-voltage direct current] systems would be appropriate if you're trying to go and visit and evaluate and determine whether or not you'd want to accept bids from individuals," said Muzychka.

Harrington responded that he was not involved in the decision to hire Debourke and that he relied on the judgment of others on his team, including Ron Power.

When challenged on the qualifications of other team members, Harrington said they did a very good job under difficult circumstances, and he said project team members were hired based on their abilities, not their connections to those building the team.

"They would be treated fairly and reasonably with anyone who applied for that position," he said.

Muzychka also singled out Jason Kean, a former member of the project team. Kean was initially hired as project services manager, despite having two years of previous experience in such a role, and was later named senior project manager for transmission, though his experience in that area was limited to a student work term.

Again, Harrington responded with praise for Kean's performance, calling him a "very competent manager" who developed "many of the best-in-class processes and procedures brought to this project."

• 'There was no bullying, sir': Muskrat manager denies he contributed to cost overruns

Harrington also defended the hiring of Scott O'Brien, who manages the generation project at Muskrat.

Muzychka suggested O'Brien did not have the prerequisite qualifications, and that other, more qualified candidates were overlooked.

But Harrington said O'Brien is an "effective project manager with leadership skills" who is "highly competent and totally professional, in my opinion."

Hiring local was emphasized

Harrington admitted that the hiring strategy was influenced by a benefits agreement that aimed to hire as many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians as possible.

"But you wouldn't do that to the expense of experience and qualifications, though?" asked Muzychka.

"No, but if you've got two people that are pretty close, you might want to look at the benefits strategy," Harrington said.

Muzychka shot back, "I think there might be some that might dispute the fact that they're equal, balanced candidates."

Harrington replied, "No doubt. Criticism is easy, as Churchill said; achievement is difficult."

No love for EY

For nearly a decade, Harrington was the overall project director for the Lower Churchill Project, but is currently project director for electricity generation at Muskrat Falls.

His name has come up often at the inquiry, especially as it relates to the provincial government's attempts to increase oversight of the project in 2014 and 2015, as major problems with contractors like Astaldi were causing serious setbacks.

There's evidence that Harrington was resistant to the efforts of the involvement of the accounting firm EY, which was hired by the provincial government's oversight committee.

Documents show there was tension between Harrington and one of EY's staff, Richard Noble, and Harrington did not deny this under questioning.

He accused Noble and EY of attempting to increase their scope of work on the project, and suggested their efforts were a distraction to his team.

"I think you've got to take a grain of salt from what they're trying to portray me as," he said.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador