Canadian Members
Help Build Historic Dam,
Transmission Project

A legacy project. Historic. Huge. All have described the endeavor to harness the vast natural resources of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada's easternmost province. And for good reason. Approximately 1,900 kilometers of transmission line — over land and undersea — will be built and laid to interconnect the province of Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and Labrador for the first time and supply them with hydroelectric clean energy. And IBEW members are making it happen.

"There's enough guy wire on this project to wrap around the world twice," said St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador Local 1620 Business Manager Terry Rose.

More than 1,400 members are currently working on the CA$8.5 billion dollar project, with more to come on as it continues through 2017. In addition to Local 1620, one other St. John's local is working on site, St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador Local 2330. Contractors of Nalcor Energy — the provincial crown corporation involved — also employ over 200 Innu, one of Canada's First Nations tribes, 31 of whom are IBEW members. (Nalcor also employs 250 members of Churchill Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador, Local 2351 at the hydro generating facility, and approximately 600 members of St. John's Local 1615 hydro operations throughout the province.)

Dubbed "Lower Churchill" after the river on which it relies, the project will be carried out in two phases, the first of which is currently underway at Muskrat Falls in Labrador. Tapping into the vast hydroelectric power of the area, it will make the province almost entirely greenhouse gas-free once complete.

The first phase involves two parts: building the dam and generating facility at Muskrat Falls and constructing the transmission lines that will carry the electricity out. These lines will travel through Labrador on to Newfoundland and into Nova Scotia, crossing two straits along the way. The entire project encompasses approximately 1,400 kilometers and has 20 work sites. It will eventually power not just the provinces involved, but much of Maritime Canada and the northeastern United States.

One of the rarities of this multi-year deal is that Nalcor wanted there to be only one union involved: the IBEW. The local unions in Newfoundland and Labrador already represent 250 members currently at the hydro generating station at Churchill Falls and more at Newfoundland Hydro.