Hydro-Quebec has slashed its dam inspection budget, cut the number of dam inspections and reduced staff in its dam inspection and maintenance division, according to utility documents.

Union officials at Hydro-Quebec warn years of cutbacks have led to overwork and burnout among employees charged with the important task of keeping the utility’s dam network in healthy shape.

Hydro-Quebec’s facilities and equipment are also at greater risk of major breakdowns, they said.

Hydro-Quebec chopped its dam inspection budget from $13 million to $9.8 million between 1997 and 1998, a drop of 25 percent, according to the utility’s reports.

The number of employees in the dam-security division — which takes care of maintenance, inspections and emergency planning – fell from 203 to 184, making for a 9-percent drop.

The La Grande region, the division’s largest section, saw a reduction of three workers, or about 5 percent.

Inspections of the utility’s dam network fell by 6 percent, from 2,735 to 2,576.

The information comes from annual reports of Hydro-Quebec’s dam-security division for 1997 and 1998.

Hydro has refused to release a slew of other documents related to dam safety, including internal audits and an index of emergency plans for its dam network.

The Nation appealed H-Q‘s decisions to the province’s Access to Information Commission in 1999. We are still awaiting final decisions in the cases.

The cutbacks aren’t just a one-year blip and reflect belt-tightening that the utility started in 1990, said union official Pierre Hadd.

“Instead of doing inspections on equipment every five years, for example, they do it every seven years. It leads to major breakdowns,” he said.

“Doing less inspections can work for a while, but it certainly is more dangerous.”

Hadd, who is president of the James Bay section of Hydro-Quebec’s 5,700-member trade-workers union, said the cutbacks have led to more employee fatigue and neglected facilities.

“They don’t have time to do inspections. They only have time to do reports about breakdowns. With time, there is a risk it will lead to problems,” he said.

An official with another union agreed. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said major staff cuts have left workers overworked and fatigued.

After the 1998 ice storm disaster, an inquiry found H-Q’s power grid collapsed before it should have. Some critics said the grid was poorly maintained.

Under the access-to-information law, The Nation has also asked H-Q to provide:

♦ reports on the maintenance history of the Robert Bourassa Dam, also known as LG-2, and the CD-05 dike.

♦ access to Hydro’s archive of documents related to the negotiations on the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

♦ reports on internal quality control and ethical violations by H-Q staff.

All the documents were refused and we have appealed.