‘I’ve laid awake’: Residents demand review as fears grow over Muskrat Falls dam
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A nagging dread is keeping Craig Chaulk up at night.
He lives downstream from the $12.7-billion Muskrat Falls hydroelectric development in Labrador. He’s among many residents concerned that a crucial part of the dam, a jut of sand and clay called the North Spur, could give way.
“My biggest fear is that the project will go to completion, the reservoir will be filled to 39 metres as they’re proposing, the North Spur will fail and this little community that I live in will be wiped right off the face of this Earth,” Chaulk said from his home at Mud Lake.
The 200-year-old community of about 70 people has already faced the worst spring flooding anyone there can remember. Chaulk and dozens of other residents were airlifted to safety May 17 as water levels swiftly rose after ice jammed where the lower Churchill River meets Lake Melville.