Minister 'extremely frustrated' over PUB rejection of diesel generating station in southern Labrador

Labrador Affairs Minister Lisa Dempster is voicing her frustrations after the province's Public Utilities Board rejected a proposed diesel power generating station in southern Labrador — saying the provincial government might need to intervene. 

On Monday the PUB rejected an application made by Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro to build a $110.9 million regional diesel generating station and interconnection in southern Labrador.

"I am so, quite frankly, fed up. Out of patience," Dempster told CBC Radio's Labrador Morning on Wednesday.

She says the rejected plan hits close to home. Dempster lived near Charlottetown's diesel-powered generating plant, which burned down in 2019. The towns in the area now rely on mobile generation.

"I cannot believe that instead of opening up a new plant, giving residents reliable power, that [Monday] we came to a full stop again. I'm extremely frustrated," Dempster said.

The proposed plant, which would have operated in Port Hope Simpson, would power and interconnect six communities in the region. It also would have replaced several existing small diesel plants.

Dempster said N.L. Hydro and the PUB need to get to a table to talk and get beyond the impasse.

She says she's also frustrated that, more than a year ago, N.L. Hydro submitted thousands of pages of documents for the PUB to review on the proposed generating station, but the rejection only just now happened.

Green energy

The PUB's decision noted it had a lot more commentary from the public than usual, and that people wanted environmentally responsible solutions.

Dempster understands where those concerns are coming from. She was recently named the minister of Environment and Climate Change during a cabinet shuffle over the summer. 

Still, she said, the region needs a reliable source of power, pointing to the area's volunteer firefighters who feel the pressure when power outages happen. She says outages occur four times more than on the Avalon Peninsula.

"I believe we've got to look to get reliable power back in a community that's been on mobile units, a temporary fix, for almost six years," she said.

In the meantime, Dempster says she has spoken with N.L. Hydro president Jennifer Williams, but a meeting she requested with the PUB was rejected.

"We cannot continue to be at this impasse for an indefinite period of time," she said.

NunatuKavut 'pleased'

But Todd Russell, president of the NunatuKavut community council, wrote in a statement on Wednesday that he welcomes the PUB's decision, pointing to a section that says N.L. Hydro should satisfy its duty to consult with the NCC.

"We are pleased that the PUB recognizes N.L. Hydro's responsibilities stemming from Canada's Constitution and as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples," wrote Russell.

The NCC claims to represent about 6,000 self-identifying Inuit in southern Labrador, including Dempster.

The NCC isn't recognized as Inuit by any other federally recognized, rights-holding Inuit collective, including the Nunatsiavut government in northern Labrador and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami — the national organization representing Inuit across Canada — who both say the group is a settler organization. 

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