Power Plant Boondoggle Tests Trudeau’s Green Energy Commitment
- Muskrat Falls project said to need C$4 billion to complete
- Canadian federal government already guarantees C$6.3 billion
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is considering a request to guarantee new debt offerings to finish an over-budget and delayed hydroelectric project, a test of his support for low-emission energy development.
The estimated cost of the Muskrat Falls project in Newfoundland and Labrador has ballooned to C$11.4 billion ($8.7 billion) from C$7.4 billion -- meaning, on a per-capita basis, Canada’s lightly populated easternmost province is spending more on a single electricity project than the U.S. government is projected to spend in its entire 2017 budget. That’s on top of a large deficit and heavy debt load that prompted Moody’s Investors Service to downgrade the province Thursday.