Nalcor in on Muskrat Falls court case

The Nunatsiavut government is moving ahead with two legal challenges tied to the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project — only one in which proponent Nalcor Energy is a named defendant.

While not named in the second case, according to proceedings at the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador in St. John’s Thursday, the Crown corporation will be allowed to participate as an intervener.

The case in which Nalcor is now acting as an intervener is a judicial review, looking at whether or not the provincial government was in a position to rightfully issue a “permit to alter a body of water” for the Muskrat Falls project July 10. The permit essentially allows Nalcor Energy to dam the lower Churchill River.

Three days are being set aside for a hearing in the case.

The second case, in which Nalcor is a named defendant, argues against the Government of Canada’s decision to issue an authorization under the Fisheries Act, allowing changes to fish habitat with the dam construction and flooding of land near Muskrat Falls.

That case is scheduled to be called in Supreme Court Oct. 7.

The Government of Nunatsiavut is arguing against both permits, saying there has been no accommodation for its concerns about downstream effects as a result of the project work, particularly changes in methylmercury levels in Lake Melville.