NunatuKavut News
Press Release: Construction at Muskrat Falls
Posted 02 October 2012, 10:56 am ADT
For Immediate Release – October 2, 2012
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What is Happening Behind the Guarded Gate?
Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL – The NunatuKavut Community Council ("NCC") is raising serious concerns about the magnitude of the "pre-construction" work that is taking place on the proposed Muskrat Falls hydro project. While Government and Nalcor assert that this work is "preliminary," it seems anything but.
After months of seeking information and demanding answers, NCC chartered a helicopter on Friday, September 28, to seek those answers. Staff from NCC flew over the construction site and took aerial photographs of the work now underway. "It is unbelievable that we would have to go to such extreme lengths to get information as to what is happening on our own lands", says President Todd Russell. "We are locked out of the site, denied reports and our aboriginal fisheries guardians were barred from doing a site inspection. Government and Nalcor talk publicly about a project that is about to happen, little does anyone know that construction is proceeding at a very rapid pace behind these closed and guarded gates."
NCC's concerns over the infringement of its aboriginal rights were substantiated by these recent photos. "We have seen our aboriginal rights being trampled on through the lack of consultation, a flawed environmental process, and government actions. But right here we see the physical trampling-on of our people's rights. Our people can no longer access their traditional hunting, fishing and trapping areas in this project area, which is such an important cultural region for the NCC people."
These aerial photographs show a very different picture than the green images which government and Nalcor plaster in their ads, or the messages they send to taxpayers. "We never see pictures of the environmental damage, or hear of the millions and millions of dollars already being spent on equipment, roads, bridges and camps," says NCC President, Todd Russell. "If this is just the preliminary work, the 'preparatory work' as Nalcor would have us believe, then God help us all if they move to full construction. We in NCC are extremely concerned with the withholding of information, the misinformation, and zero transparency." remarked Russell, "And this is not just a concern for us but all of Labrador and the Province"
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Media Contact: Tara McLean
(709) 896-0592 ext. 225 (o), (709) 899-2831 (c)
tmclean@nunatukavut.ca
_______________________________________________________________________
What is Happening Behind the Guarded Gate?
Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL – The NunatuKavut Community Council ("NCC") is raising serious concerns about the magnitude of the "pre-construction" work that is taking place on the proposed Muskrat Falls hydro project. While Government and Nalcor assert that this work is "preliminary," it seems anything but.
After months of seeking information and demanding answers, NCC chartered a helicopter on Friday, September 28, to seek those answers. Staff from NCC flew over the construction site and took aerial photographs of the work now underway. "It is unbelievable that we would have to go to such extreme lengths to get information as to what is happening on our own lands", says President Todd Russell. "We are locked out of the site, denied reports and our aboriginal fisheries guardians were barred from doing a site inspection. Government and Nalcor talk publicly about a project that is about to happen, little does anyone know that construction is proceeding at a very rapid pace behind these closed and guarded gates."
NCC's concerns over the infringement of its aboriginal rights were substantiated by these recent photos. "We have seen our aboriginal rights being trampled on through the lack of consultation, a flawed environmental process, and government actions. But right here we see the physical trampling-on of our people's rights. Our people can no longer access their traditional hunting, fishing and trapping areas in this project area, which is such an important cultural region for the NCC people."
These aerial photographs show a very different picture than the green images which government and Nalcor plaster in their ads, or the messages they send to taxpayers. "We never see pictures of the environmental damage, or hear of the millions and millions of dollars already being spent on equipment, roads, bridges and camps," says NCC President, Todd Russell. "If this is just the preliminary work, the 'preparatory work' as Nalcor would have us believe, then God help us all if they move to full construction. We in NCC are extremely concerned with the withholding of information, the misinformation, and zero transparency." remarked Russell, "And this is not just a concern for us but all of Labrador and the Province"
-30-
Media Contact: Tara McLean
(709) 896-0592 ext. 225 (o), (709) 899-2831 (c)
tmclean@nunatukavut.ca