Expanding the power station at Ear Falls to add new 12Mw generator is underway
From Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal at http://66.244.236.251/article_3711.php
OPG expanding power station at Ear Falls
By BRYAN MEADOWS - Feb 2, 2006
Work has started on expanding the Ontario Power Generation hydroelectric power station in Ear Falls.
Blasting of a tunnel under Highway 105 began this week and is expected to continue until late March.
The OPG project involves the construction of an additional 12-megawatt hydroelectric generating unit at its Ear Falls dam on the far western edge of Lac Seul.
Site engineer David Sennill said Wednesday that blasting of bedrock will occur two to five times per day.
Motorists may experience 10- to 15-minute delays during the blasting which is being carried out by Leo Alarie and Sons Ltd.
Sennill said crews are working just south of the existing power plant and blasting either way underground toward the English River and Lac Seul.
When the excavation and power house tie-ins have been completed, crews will remove the “rock plugs” from either end, he said.
OPG had halted work on the project last April, citing ongoing consultation with various parties and a reassessment of the “costs and risks associated with the expansion at the site.”
OPG did not elaborate on specific reasons for the cancellation. Nor was the company forthcoming on project details when contacted this week, saying only that an announcement would be made in the near future.
Lac Seul First Nation, located northwest of Sioux Lookout, had opposed the expansion, citing long-standing concerns about the Ear Falls dam and hydro development.
Chief David Gordon said there were “a number of things (the band) was trying to finalize” before it could endorse the project.
And apparently those concerns have been mitigated somewhat.
Lac Seul Coun. Rod Wesley said OPG has left the door open for more negotiations on possible benefits which might flow to the band from the project.
“We’ve asked to have more input into the project . . . (and) they’ve asked us to submit a proposal” on such things as jobs and training programs, he said.
Wesley added that he was unaware of what arrangements or agreements Gordon, OPG and Indian Affairs reached last week at a meeting.
Gordon was travelling to Toronto on Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.
On the heels of OPG’s expansion announcement a year ago Wednesday, Gordon issued a statement that flooding resulting from the dam at Ear Falls “has caused enormous suffering for our people.”
“We understand OPG’s wishes and are prepared to work with (the company) to create a plan that benefits all,” he said. “We will consent to reasonable development that includes aboriginal people. (But) we cannot consent to unilateral decisions to increase profits by impoverishing First Nations.”
For Ear Falls, the project means construction jobs and economic spinoffs over the next two years.
The existing OPG plant employs a dozen people and produces 17 megawatts of power with four units built between the 1930s and ’40s. New equipment was installed 10 years ago after the station building was destroyed by fire.