Hydro-Quebec wins another round in energy feud with Newfoundland and Labrador

Muskrat Falls, on the Churchill River in Labrador, is shown in a Feb., 2011 file photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly)

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- Newfoundland and Labrador has lost another legal skirmish in its long-running energy feud with Hydro-Quebec.

Crown corporation Nalcor Energy says it's reviewing a Quebec Superior Court judgment involving access to energy from the Churchill Falls dam in Labrador.

Hydro-Quebec asked the court to affirm its right based on a 1969 power contract to buy "virtually all of the power" produced by the generating station.

It took issue with assertions by the Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corp. that Hydro-Quebec will be entitled to monthly allotments once the contract is replaced this year with a renewal deal until 2041.

The judgment supports Hydro-Quebec's view that the Labrador corporation still can't capture more than a 300-megawatt block of power for sale to third parties.

Former premier Kathy Dunderdale has said the legal challenge was Quebec's attempt to thwart the $11.4-billion Muskrat Falls project now under construction downstream.