Health concerns raised in East Coast hydro project

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Methylmercury levels are expected to rise in the reservoir created by construction of the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project in Labrador, officials with Nalcor Energy confirmed Wednesday, saying local residents can eventually expect an advisory warning them to limit their consumption of fish.

The prediction came soon after the provincial government ordered Crown-owned Nalcor to remove more forest cover from the land that will be flooded to create the 41-square-kilometre reservoir — a process expected to begin later this month. The additional cutting is meant to address the concerns of critics who say the water will be contaminated with unacceptable levels of methylmercury if too many trees are left to rot at the bottom of the reservoir. The neurotoxin is linked to heart issues, intellectual problems in children and other effects.

“For fish in the reservoir, I think we would generally expect levels to rise high enough that we would consider advising people not to eat fish that often,” said Gilbert Bennett, executive vicepresident of power development.

“We’re not saying it’s not safe. It’s entirely safe to eat. The only question is, taking appropriate steps to mitigate the risk.”

The project is upstream from 2,000 Inuit in Lake Melville region who rely on fish and seal meat.

Bennett said similar advisories have been issued for waters adjacent to other hydroelectric projects in the province, and across Canada and the United States.

“We’re in this for the long haul,” he said. “We have a longterm common objective to make sure that the health of everybody is protected.”

The warning came after a Nalcor official said predictive models have indicated that over a five- to 15-year time period, methylmercury levels in the reservoir fish are expected to rise between 2.3 and 4.8 times current levels in the lower Churchill River before falling back to baseline levels.

The impact on health would depend on who will be eating the fish, what type of fish they eat and how often they eat it. Children and women of child-bearing age are the most vulnerable to the detrimental effects of methylmercury, which is formed when inorganic mercury interacts with bacteria found in lakes and streams.