NOTE TO HYDRO CEO: THOSE “GROWING PAINS” MIGHT BE YOURS

The new Hydro President, Jennifer Williams, is either threading very softly with a Furey Government afraid of taking decisions or has already succumbed to Nalcor’s long established culture of deception.

Because Ms. Williams is still new, we can only hope that her comments to CBC last week are matters of misspeak rather than signs of an evolving attitude. There is good reason to be concerned.

CEO Williams suggested to CBC that it is common for new utility infrastructure to experience “growing pains”.

The comment left the impression that those “growing pains” include the major problems currently plaguing the Muskrat Falls project, which are limiting production to around a third of capacity. After spending nearly $15 billion and years behind schedule, growing pains should constitute only the minor problems identified in a punch list audit during commissioning.

FAULTY TOWERS: A NALCOR COMEDY (OF ERRORS)

Newfoundland would have provided the perfect setting for the British TV Comedy series “Fawlty Towers”. Here, John Cleese would have had no need for inventive double entendres. And the laughs could have been on Nalcor’s dime.

According to an Uncle Gnarley Blog source, Nalcor is grappling with a new problem. And it is no laughing matter. As you might have guessed, the issue revolves around faulty towers.

Nalcor has discovered structural defects in an undetermined number of the towers on the 1100 km Labrador-Island Link (LIL). That’s the extension cord intended to deliver Upper Churchill recall power next year and, subsequently, power from the Muskrat Falls project.

According to the source, the structural integrity of a selection of 30 towers was tested recently. The tests produced a failure rate of 100%.