A months-long inquiry into Newfoundland and Labrador's costly hydroelectric project at Muskrat Falls has culminated in a final report now in the government's hands, but the public won't see it until a legal review is complete, government said Thursday.

The Commission of Inquiry Respecting the Muskrat Falls Project presented the report to Natural Resources Minister Siobhan Coady Thursday morning.

The report, once released, may contain redactions.

At a media briefing, Coady briefly held up the report, titled "Muskrat Falls: A Misguided Project."

"It's over a thousand pages and contains findings and recommendations," she said, adding it will be released in a "matter of days."

Legal review required

"I have been advised that the report must be reviewed for legal sensitivities related to legal interests. It is prudent and responsible for the government to do so," said Coady, reading from a statement.

Crown counsel Peter Ralph said he advised the department to allow for a "limited review of a large document" solely to determine a legal matter. "This is not a communications review," Ralph said.

"The question is, would the information in the report impact litigation?"

The report was originally supposed to be released Dec. 31. But in early December, Commissioner Richard LeBlanc said he needed more time to complete the final report. He requested — and was granted — an extension to March 31.

It comprises six volumes, with the commission citing the sheer complexity of the inquiry and its thousands of exhibits as the reason behind the delay.

Justice Richard LeBlanc, right, commissioner of the Muskrat Falls public inquiry, spent months preparing his final report on the over-budget megaproject. (Terry Roberts/CBC)

LeBlanc was tasked with leading the independent inquiry into the cost and schedule overruns of the $12.7 billion hydroelectric megaproject on the Churchill River sanctioned in 2012.

He previously stated that all information within the inquiry, which involved a number of witnesses and volumes of documentation, should be open and accessible after Crown corporation Nalcor requested that some financial information be kept confidential last year.

"It's a public inquiry. It's obviously meant to be public," he said at the time.

LeBlanc eventually ruled in favour of partial censorship.

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