A birth, a death, a romance

Some people, especially the easily-impressed, may look to today’s announcement by NALCO(R) of the environmental assessment of the Lower Churchill “infeed” (outstarve?) line, as the birth of Our Dear So-Called Lower Churchill Project:

Nalcor Energy today initiated the Environmental Assessment (EA) process for the proposed Labrador – Island Transmission Link. A directive of the province’s 2007 Energy Plan, this proposed 1,200 km High Voltage direct current (HVdc) link will be the first of its kind in Newfoundland and Labrador and will be constructed from Gull Island in Central Labrador to Soldiers Pond on the island’s Avalon Peninsula.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die. A moment of respectful silence, therefore, upon the death of the Danny Williams Memorial Tunnel:

In Newfoundland and Labrador, everything's shifted to the east coast. The fixed link would be well into the northern peninsula, so it accomplishes a few things. It would promote a movement to populate the west, and it would join our province to Labrador and to the country. I think it's critical to our future.

So young, so young, not even nine years old.

And yet, eight years later, pace Bill Wells, the Newfoundland hydro grid hasn’t collapsed. Six, seven or eight years later, not only is the tunnel not built, the roads on the Labrador side aren’t even completed.

O dura fata!