Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale said she cannot take very seriously a former premier's strong criticism of how the Muskrat Falls megaproject is being evaluated.

Peckford on Tuesday released an open letter to Dunderdale that argued the Public Utilities Board is not equipped to judge whether Muskrat Falls is the best energy option for the province, and that Crown-owned Nalcor is too heavily focused on hydroelectric power.

But Dunderdale, who described B.C.-based Peckford's letter as a "missive from afar," said she cannot give much weight to his call for putting the $6.2-billion proposal before an independent, international panel of experts. [MORE: Read the full text of Brian Peckford's open letter here.]

"A debate that you have not been engaged in or public information sessions that you haven't participated in, it's difficult for me to deal with," Dunderdale said.

Peckford, who has not been available for an interview, released his letter just after Cabot Martin, a St. John's lawyer who had been a policy advisor during the 1980s, told the PUB that the review process has been rushed. Other critical presentations have been made to the board — which has been unable to get an extension to a forced March 31 deadline — during this week.

Liberal MHA Yvonne Jones welcomed Peckford's comments.

"It's nice to see a former premier like Brian Peckford stepping up and showing his concern for the long term implications of a project like this on Newfoundland and Labrador," she said.

Meanwhile, NDP Leader Lorraine Michael said Tuesday she was boycotting the PUB's hearings, arguing that its mandate was too narrow to hear her concerns about energy.

"If they were able to move further ahead and do the wider piece of work that needs to be done they can hire the expertise to work with them, so I don't have a problem with that," Michael said.