Protect NL issues warning over potential wind hyrdrogen hub at the Port of Corner Brook

Brenda Lee Kitchen is with the group Protect NL, known for questioning current proposals for wind hydrogen projects in the Bay St. George and Codroy Valley areas, as well as the rest of the province. She says people need to be involved right from the start.

The parking lot near Bayfm has been packed the past couple of days as information sessions about a new wind hydrogen and green iron plant proposal for Corner Brook.  The Port of Corner Brook has signed a memorandum of understanding with CWP Global. Information sessions were held Tuesday evening and yesterday afternoon just upstairs from Bayfm, where people came out to find out about what’s being called “Project Gwinya.” The plan is to build a 5 GW Green Hydrogen wind farm in the Gaff Topsails area to produce green hydrogen and green iron with an HBI  or hot briquetted iron (HBI)  Plant. The only byproduct of the process is water vapour. Currently Iron Ore in Labrador is being shipped down to Texas to a very similar plant. 

Meanwhile, Brenda Lee Kitchen is with a group known as Protect NL, known for questioning current proposals for wind hydrogen projects in the Bay St. George and Codroy Valley areas, as well as the rest of the province. She says about 40 people attended and it was an interesting session. Kitchen says people need to be involved right from the start. She says  the company spoke about being sustainable, transparent and a personal connection to NL,

CWP Global spokesperson Steve Delaney says Corner Brook has many advantages, like a deep port that can handle the world’s largest iron ore freighters. Port CEO Jackie Chow says this aligns with their shared values of environmental stewardship and economic prosperity. Kitchen says companies need to be true to their word and one gentleman questioned about an ancestral burial ground in Brakes Cove, while Delaney could not commit to its protection. 

Next steps for the project are to formally submit a project registration, commence the environmental assessment process, and conduct a feasibility study to assess various aspects of the proposed hub, including infrastructure, logistics, and economic impacts.  Construction on the project could take two to three years and will come with 1000’s of jobs.