While the Clean Environment Commission (CEC) review and hearings for the proposed Wuskwatim projects continue, Manitoba Hydro's credibility and integrity is being called into question following conflicting testimony by Mr. Ken Adams, Manitoba Hydro Vice-President of Power Supply.
Repeatedly, as part of the CEC hearings, and specifically on March 15, 2004, Mr. Adams went on record stating that the proposed Wuskwatim Generation project will be built for export purposes, and will not be needed to meet domestic power needs until approximately a decade after it is built. However, three days earlier, on March 12, 2004, Mr. Adams appeared before the Minnesota Senate Jobs, Energy and Community Development Committee. He is on record that day as saying that by the time Wuskwatim is built and operational (shortly after 2010), "the native load in Manitoba will have grown to the point where it had consumed all of that [200 megawatts of power from the Wuskwatim Generation Station] and more."
One of the key assumptions in Manitoba Hydro economic analysis of Wuskwatim has been that the power from Wuskwatim will be exported for approximately a decade before it is required for domestic power needs by Manitobans. These contradictory statements by a high-level Manitoba Hydro executive call into question one of the fundamental assumptions put forward as part of the Manitoba Hydro Justification, Need For, and Alternatives To filing under the CEC process.
View March 12 & 15, 2004 excerpts from Mr. Ken Adams of remarks to the CEC hearings and Minnesota Senate Committee
Source: CEC hearings transcripts, Minnesota State Senate Committee record
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