The idea of a tunnel was first floated back in 1979 within the Commission of Inquiry into Newfoundland Transportation.
That three-man panel, which included Mr. Ploughman, was tasked to investigate all aspects of transport in the province and presented a report of 160 recommendations, 130 of which were implemented.
“It is interesting, we were looking at it back then,” he said.
“If there was some technological reason against this, or it was cost prohibitive, then I would understand, but neither of those are the case anymore.
“There is too much concentration on improving Marine Atlantic but what the general public mostly isn’t aware of is that there is another solution.”
Former premier Danny Williams commissioned a pre-feasibility study in 2004 to investigate the credentials of such a project.
Back when the report was released, the concept was earmarked to cost $1.7 billion, however proponents say technological advancements over the past seven years would reduce that cost significantly.
The report also suggested combining the road tunnel with power transmission line with a saving of about $390 million.
That idea has been scuppered by Nalcor which has decided to forgo a small diameter tunnel option of transferring power from Lower Churchill Fall across the Strait.
Instead they will recommend a mixed seabed alternative that would be trenched in certain areas if the sediment and sand depths are sufficient, but otherwise the cable would be placed directly on the sea floor and protected it with a rock berm.
Vice president of Nalcor for the Lower Churchill Project Gilbert Bennett told the Pen their preferred option would save “hundreds of millions of dollars”.
“We certainly appreciate the passion and support for that concept [fixed link tunnel] but the challenge for us is that it is a concept and we have a project that has tremendous importance to the province as a whole and we need to be moving forward with that,” he said.
“The tunnel is not there today and we don’t have anywhere to put the cables that we need to place on the seabed. Without the tunnel being there we are going to incur other costs as we wait for the tunnel to be built if in fact it were to happen.”
Mr. Bennett said delays in providing Lower Churchill energy would incur Nalcor between $600 and $800 million “in pollution abatement technology” for the Holyrood plant.
“I would agree that if the tunnel were there we could save some money but the difficulty is if we wait, we are going to spend much more and we’d like to be in a position to start construction next year,” he said.
Now in possession of their Environmental Assessment guidelines, Mr. Bennett said further public consultations would take place on the Northern Peninsula and Southern Labrador.
He said he hoped work could start on laying the cable across the strait by next year.
As for the tunnel, now it is matter of waiting.
In a statement to the Pen, Mr. Hedderson said his department was in the midst of budget preparations and could not put a time line on their response to Quebec.
“This matter is still under consideration and no final decision has been made on whether to proceed with this joint study with Quebec,” he said in the emailed statement.
“The department is fully pre-occupied with budget preparations and therefore cannot say at this time when a decision would be made.”
For Mr. Ploughman and the coalition, they believe the construction of the tunnel is no longer a pipe dream.
“Former premier Danny Williams considered the development of the Lower Churchill as his greatest legacy,” he said.
“The direct road connection to the rest of North America, the last province in Canada, will undoubtedly be the most important legacy of the premier who wins the election this fall.
“It is achievable.”
jgraney@northernpen.ca
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