Lower Churchill megaproject registered for assessment

The proposed Lower Churchill hydroelectric megaproject has been registered with environmental regulators, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams said Friday.

"We're moving forward," Williams told reporters as he outlined details of an environmental assessment that Crown-owned Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro is seeking from both federal and provincial agencies.

If developed as planned, the Lower Churchill Hydroelectric Generation Project would combine with the existing Churchill Falls station to produce the electrical equivalent of 225,000 barrels of oil per day.

Williams said the Lower Churchill project would help reduce greenhouse gases and provide stable electrical power.

"We view the Churchill River as an attractive, renewable, clean source of energy,"he said.

The province has spent about $18 million to date on developing the Lower Churchill project.

"I would say we're approximately 50 per cent through, and on schedule [that's] the critical piece of information," said Hydro president Ed Martin.

"If we want to remain on schedule for [a construction start of] 2009, we have to get this process kicked off while the other things are still going on."

The "other things" are substantial, and include deciding on a distribution route, negotiating an impact benefits agreement with the Innu Nation, and complex engineering issues.

A key point, with political implications, is securing a loan guarantee from the federal government that could run between $6 billion and $9 billion.

Pledge made during election campaign

Williams is confident that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will come through with such aguarantee.

"I have a commitment in writing from the prime minister, for what it's worth," said Williams, referring to a letter Harper wrote Jan. 4, during the federal election campaign.

In the letter, Harper said the Conservatives "support this project in principle" but added they also "welcome discussions" on the plan.

Williams, who has had strained relations with the Harper government on issues such as offshore oil management, said the province will proceed with the Lower Churchill project regardless of the response from Ottawa.

"If I'm going to sit back and wait for the federal government to make progress on anything in this province, then we'll be waiting a long time," Williams said.

Earlier this year, the Newfoundland and Labrador government rejected other bidders on the megaproject, including one proposal that included the Ontario government and Hydro-Qubec, and instead chose to develop Lower Churchill by itself.

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro hopes to have the project generating power by 2015.

The registrations announced Friday include submissions under boththe Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the provincial Environmental Protection Act.

At the Gull Island location, a dam measuring 1.3 kilometres in length and 99 metres in height would be constructed, with a 225-kilometre-long reservoir that would involve flooding 85 square kilometres.

At the Muskrat Falls site, a smaller generating station would be built, with a reservoir requiring flooding of 36 square kilometres.

The proposal also calls for a transmission line between the two generation sites, and a line connecting Gull Island and Churchill Falls.