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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Northwest Territories Power Corporation is still waiting to find out if the Canadian Forces will cover the $1.9 million expense incurred when a Griffon helicopter knocked out power to Yellowknife in February.

The power corp. submitted a claim to the Canadian Forces May 31 asking for compensation.

"We were told that the claim would be forwarded to the appropriate areas within (the Department of National Defence) for review. At this point we haven't received any further response," said power corp. spokesperson Bob Kelly.

The expense stems from a Feb. 13 event where a military helicopter accidentally clipped a Snare Hydro transmission line while the Canadian Forces was conducting operations 10 km northwest of Yellowknife as part of exercise Arctic RAM. The incident left lines lying on the ground which took 10 days to repair. The power company was forced to supply the city power through diesel generators from Jackfish Lake power plant and, to a lesser extent, from Bluefish Hydro, north of Prosperous Lake.

"There was a fairly significant expenditure to make sure that we could restore the power from Snare as quickly as possible and as safely as possible," Kelly said.

Snare hydro is Yellowknife's main source of power, providing 80 per cent of electricity to the city.

The power corporation initially estimated the damage to be $2.4 million but after a review, that number was reduced to $1.9 million.

At about $100,000 a day, fuel for the generator was the company's greatest expense. Money was also spent to bring in a specialized contractor to help with the repairs.

The power corp.'s request for reimbursement is currently still under review, according to a spokesperson for National Defence. No timeline was given as to when the power company will have its answer.

Still, Kelly said, the power corp. expects to recover the costs associated with the event from the military.

"It's a matter that was not a result of any actions by NTPC. We expect that in fairness that we be compensated for the costs incurred to repair that break," he said.

When asked who will pay if the military does not, Kelly replied that he doesn't want to speculate.

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