The Telegram (St. John's)

‘Oh, it’s a huge thing’

Fermeuse residents watch massive offshore marine base proposal take shape

- BY ASHLEY FITZPATRIC­K afitzpatri­ck@thetelegra­m.com

Ed Curran, 80, looks out at Fermeuse Harbour this week, from his home at Lumley Cove. His property, like others in the area, is being sought for the developmen­t of a new offshore marine base.

You’ll typically find Ed Curran at home — a single floor on a spit of land beside the old fish plant in sleepy Lumley Cove, Fermeuse harbour.

Looking out at the cove from his living room this week, the 80-yearold said he expects to be forced to move in the not too distant future, if forced is the right word. He is considerin­g selling to Fermeuse Enterprise­s Ltd., with the right offer, for the sake of what the company has proposed for the area.

“They’re building an offshore base for servicing the oil rigs,” he said, describing the project as it has been described to him over the past two years.

His descriptio­n is supported by informatio­n filed Nov. 17 with the provincial Department of Environmen­t and Conservati­on.

A 15-hectare base is set to be developed in multiple phases in the cove, expanding if there is demonstrat­ed private-sector demand, potentiall­y boasting berths for 12 ships, fuel storage, a fabricatio­n building, laydown areas and even a quay for servicing semi-submersibl­e offshore drilling rigs at site.

“Oh, it’s a huge thing,” Curran said, sweeping his hand across a view of his son’s waterfront shack, a handful of small boats and the fish plant where he once worked, before he headed off to the American military base in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and then on to a career with Marine Atlantic.

Retired now, he is one of about half a dozen livyers in the area who have been approached for a sale, with a few other part-timers and cabin owners besides.

It is a small count against the 300 or so living in the town of Fermeuse.

“They’re having meetings now and this is the meetings for the relocation and the price, that type thing. So they’re going that far,” he said.

He expects to hear about his next meeting any day now, regardless of where the price of oil sits today.

“A lot of people are for it, because you can’t stop progress, really.”

Fermeuse Enterprise­s Ltd. has been in contact with the Town of Fermeuse council, the Ferme use-Port Kirwan Harbour Authority and interested local residents, providing formal presentati­ons since October 2012, according to the filing with government.

A public meeting was held early this month, on Nov. 5, at the community hall, with roughly 35 to 40 people in attendance. Concerns raised included noise during constructi­on, fair market value for the properties required by the company and the potential for increased traffic in the area.

“But now they said the same thing about the marine centre. When they started the marine centre, people were going to be complainin­g about it being too bright and all that,” said Peter Ryan, who lives with his family at the base of the roughly five-kilometre-long Fermeuse Harbour, beside the smaller marine base created for snow crab harvesters.

“We do get a lot of trucks (in sea- son) because that’s the nature of the business with crab, it’s night and day. So there’s no trouble to hear a truck here one o’clock in the morning or two o’clock in the morning,” he said. “I’ve got no complaints about it.” Complaints about the area becoming home to a new offshore marine base are few and far between, he said.

“Me, personally, I’d be delighted to see something coming here,” he said, adding a call for work for locals is to be included.

Roughly 25 to 50 people are expected to be needed for each phase of the developmen­t, with the potential for hundreds of jobs if service companies move in.

Ryan, in his 60s, said the oil and gas sector has drawn plenty of people out of the area, so the idea of the reverse is a nice change.

He has three brothers who work on the rigs. More, he noted, if you count in-laws.

And the proposed base at Fermeuse would provide room for industry players looking beyond the go-to ports of St. John’s and Bay Bulls.

“The more the better,” said Bob Badcock, who was at work at the fishery marine base Thursday.

His company, TRC Hydraulics, is based in the metro area, but has completed service work onshore and offshore, for fishing boats and oil industry operators.

“It’s convenient being here on the Avalon, but St. John’s is getting quite filled up out there now,” he said.

“(And) the more bases there are for supply boats and different projects, the better for us.”

At Brophy’s Gas Bar, Jerome Brophy was behind the counter to relay a story of a home in the area recently selling for $140,000, considered a big increase over the $80,000 or $100,000 he would have expected.

“It would … be a big boost to these communitie­s,” he said of the potential impact for towns along the Irish Loop, Route 10.

The Telegram contactd Fermeuse Enterprise­s Limited by phone Thursday, to contacts on the filed documents, with no response as of deadline. However, the document speaks volumes.

It states various provincial and federal approvals will be required to move ahead with constructi­on.

The project was registered for environmen­tal assessment Nov. 21.

Public comments are due in by New Year’s Eve, with a decision from the minister expected by Jan. 8, 2015.

The current schedule places the start of constructi­on, for the first phase of the developmen­t, in late summer or early fall 2015.

 ?? — Photo by Ashley Fitzpatric­k/The Telegram ?? A new offshore marine base in Fermeuse is a good thing, as far as Bob Badcock is concerned. Badcock’s hydraulics company is based in the metro area, but he said he welcomes more bases for the burgeoning offshore sector.
— Photo by Ashley Fitzpatric­k/The Telegram A new offshore marine base in Fermeuse is a good thing, as far as Bob Badcock is concerned. Badcock’s hydraulics company is based in the metro area, but he said he welcomes more bases for the burgeoning offshore sector.
 ?? — Photo by Ashley Fitzpatric­k/The Telegram ??
— Photo by Ashley Fitzpatric­k/The Telegram
 ?? — Photo by Ashley Fitzpatric­k/The Telegram ?? Fishing boats sit on trestles in the Fermeuse marina earlier this week.
— Photo by Ashley Fitzpatric­k/The Telegram Fishing boats sit on trestles in the Fermeuse marina earlier this week.
 ?? — Telegram photo illustrati­on/Photo by Google Earth ?? An illustrati­on showing the four planned phases of a major offshore marine base proposed for Fermeuse harbour, on the Southern Shore.
— Telegram photo illustrati­on/Photo by Google Earth An illustrati­on showing the four planned phases of a major offshore marine base proposed for Fermeuse harbour, on the Southern Shore.
 ?? — Photo by Ashley Fitzpatric­k/The Telegram ?? Peter Ryan in front of his home in Fermeuse.
— Photo by Ashley Fitzpatric­k/The Telegram Peter Ryan in front of his home in Fermeuse.

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