ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Premier Dwight Ball says the $30 million allotted to go towards wetland capping will now go to indigenous groups potentially affected by methylmercury at the Muskrat Falls reservoir.
Ball announced on Tuesday two of three indigenous groups (the Innu Nation and Nunatukavut Community Council) have agreed to the payout, while the Nunatsiavut government has not yet agreed to the money.
While Ball spoke repeatedly of the need for consensus among indigenous groups on issues related to Muskrat Falls, there is now one indigenous group asking to halt the flooding of the reservoir. Ball says despite the lack of consensus on flooding, the evidence says the reservoir should be filled.
“Even with wetland capping, it would have been less than two per cent of a decrease in methylmercury. You can’t ignore that,” said Ball.
“We have to look at what the evidence is showing us. 1,300 samples done, we can’t ignore that. We can’t ignore that we’re not seeing the increase in methylmercury that was predicted in 2015.”
Ball didn’t utter the words on Tuesday, but government has not directed Nalcor Energy to halt the flooding of the reservoir, as requested by Nunatsiavut president Johannes Lampe.
Ball says monitoring of the reservoir to date has not seen any spike in methylmercury levels in the reservoir, and the monitoring continues.
In the House of Assembly, Municipal Affairs and Environment Minister Lisa Dempster says the worries about methylmercury poisoning are far overblown.
“There’s some extreme messaging out there that people will be poisoned. I say to (PC MHA Lela Evans), my fellow Labradorian: That is absolutely false,” said Dempster.
“As the impoundment happens and the water levels go up if there is a concern, it may be – and we’re not talking salmon at all, we’re talking smelts and seal and brook trout. If there is a concern, we may have to go out and say you cannot eat trout seven times a week, you can eat trout twice a week.”
Currently no such restrictions are in place.
But Torngat Mountains PC MHA Lela Evans says the reservoir is not yet fully flooded, so she’s not comforted by the data recorded so far.
“The partial flooding doesn’t account for what’s going to happen after full impoundment. The thing about it is, we know that when they do full impoundment, the methylmercury is going to be released – no one is contesting that,” she said.
“It’s going to accumulate in the food. We eat the food.”
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Andrew Parsons continues to dodge questions about his time as minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment, a position he held when the amendment to cap the wetlands was submitted to the department by Nalcor. On July 4 and 5 interview requests were submitted by The Telegram, which ultimately did not return either an interview or a written statement. On Tuesday, when the press gallery requested a scrum with Parsons, media were told the questions were better addressed to Dempster, who currently holds the portfolios, and was not minister at the time of the failure to cap the wetlands.
Twitter: @DavidMaherNL
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