And John Crosbie’s recent column (May 18) in the Telegram about Churchill Falls contains some of the oldest – and completely unsubstantiated – crap on the go.
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Tom Marshall used to be the finance minister. He’s the guy who consistently, year after year, spent more than the people of the province could afford. Tom didn’t do it by himself: he had the support of all his colleagues in cabinet. And since 2009, Tom and his colleagues have admitted that they mismanaged the provincial government accounts by overspending. Deliberately. Along the way, Tom has claimed some things that aren’t true. Like saying that he and his colleagues lowered the provincial debt when they didn’t. So now that he is natural resources minister, Tom Marshall is still telling people things that aren’t true. This time it is about the glories of the 2008 expropriation. What Tom says. The truth. Two different things. (Read more…) Check out the 2012 Hydro-Quebec annual report and you will find a lovely chart showing trends in energy prices in northeastern North America. “After reaching a historic peak in 2008, natural gas and electricity prices in northeastern North America dropped sharply in 2009, then rose slightly in 2010 only to fall again, such that prices in 2012 were at their lowest in 10 years.” (page 11) From an historic peak to the lowest prices in a decade a mere four years later. (Read more…) Husky Energy is sizing up the potential of developing natural gas offshore Newfoundland and Labrador within the next decade, according to the leading petroleum industry news source upstreamonline.com. First exports could begin in 2025, if enough resources can be certified, according to upstream. The likely export destination would be western Europe, a market very close to Newfoundland and Labrador and where prices are considerably stronger than they are in North America. upstream’s story notes that the provincial government “quashed” any idea of using local natural gas in place of Muskrat falls, but reports that since then the “the (Read more…) Natural resources minister Tom Marshall announced in the House of Assembly on Tuesday that the provincial government had settled with the last of a string of private companies victimised by a 2008 asset grab of hydro-electric generating facilities by the provincial government. Taxpayers will cover a $54 million debt owed by Fortis, one of the partners in the Exploits Partnership, as well as pay the company an additional $18 million. Taxpayers have already paid more than $4 million according to media reports, bringing the total to about $76 million for the Fortis asset swipe alone. In 2011, the provincial (Read more…) The north side of the site of the future Muskrat Falls dam has a problem. The soil is made up of clay that has a tendency to sheer away in landslides when it gets too wet. The North Spur, as it is known, is a key part of the reservoir. Cabot Martin has documented the whole thing in a slide presentation based on documents released during the environmental reviews of the project. According to Martin, Nalcor won’t have a potential solution to the problem or know the cost until sometime this year. . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Muskrat Falls weakness: the North Spur #nlpoli The provincial “mid-year” financial update included a familiar claim about the Muskrat Falls project: We estimate that the province will see revenues in excess of $20 billion over 50 years beginning in 2017, with average annual revenues of $450 million over this period. But a new analysis of the project cash flows by JM shows that it will be 2031 before the provincial government will realise any genuine dividends from the project. What’s more, it will be sometime around 2048 before the dividends would reach as much as $200 million. That’s not all. The provincial government will have to inject upwards of $100 million over and above any amounts described to date in order to maintain the debt-service coverage ratio (DSCR) of 1.4 during the first five years of the project as required by the federal loan guarantee. When you consider the equity repayment, the required debt service ratio, and . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Muskrat Falls: delayed dividends, more equity needed #nlpoli Word that the Town of Badger is having problems with flooding – again – is a reminder of a couple of small hydro projects at Badger Chute and Red Indian Falls that would have helped relieve the flooding threat.
-srbp- Nova Scotia “energy consultants pan Muskrat Falls project”. “Let’s wait for URB verdict”: former NS NDP leader Ekuanitshit Innu suing over Muskrat Falls. (French) Nalcor excluded the George River herd from Muskrat falls impact study according to Ekuanitshit commentary on MF environmental review: Effects on the George River herd Generally speaking, the proponent’s optimism with respect to the effects of the project on caribou cannot be justified merely by its very selective description of the effects on certain herds. The George River herd was arbitrarily excluded from the impact study: “More recently, the . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Muskrat Mania #nlpoli Nalcor has awarded a contract valued at more than $106 million to Nexans Norway AS to construct the underwater cable for the Muskrat Falls project, according to a news release issued on Tuesday by Nexans. Neither Nalcor nor Emera apparently issued any new releases on the tender. The only reference to the contract award on Nalcor’s website is a tiny mention buried away on the project benefits and tendering page. The news release from the successful company included a passing reference to a fibre optic cable of unspecified capacity to be included with the high voltage direct current electricity . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Nexans to build Muskrat Falls underwater cable #nlpoli From the Chronicle Herald: Emera CEO Chris Huskilson says there are several options available to Nova Scotians to meet future energy needs, but he insists the arrangement with Newfoundland and Labrador represents the best opportunity. “It is not something (Nova Scotians) must do because Emera is bringing it forward, it is something they can consider and decide,” Huskilson said in an interview Tuesday. “We have not signed anything that would obligate Nova Scotia customers to take this energy. All we’ve done was sign something that creates that opportunity.” -srbp- Another perspective on Muskrat Falls, via the Ottawa Citizen, and a previous attempt to run electrical power from Labrador through Nova Scotia: Pickersgill took the matter to the R.B. Bryce, the cautious deputy minister of finance, who identified several problems in a memo to his minister. First, the federal government could only provide a loan at per cent as Ottawa had done for transmission lines between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, amortized over 40 years. Second, the federal government had to avoid the impression that Ottawa was conspiring with Smallwood to outflank Quebec. When Smallwood discussed the matter The partners in the Hebron project sanctioned the development on New Year’s Eve and announced the decision on Friday. The new cost estimate to build the gravity base and bring the oil field into production is $14 million. As CBC noted on Friday, the capital cost estimate for the project increased from $8.3 billion to $14 billion over the past 18 months. That’s a 69% increase for those doing the math. “But much of the increase of billions relates to increased construction and drilling costs,” CBC reported on Friday, “ plus current market and foreign exchange rates.” The partners expect to produce first oil from the field in 2017. . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Hebron Complications #nlpoli Pity Tom Johnson. The St. John’s lawyer landed a steady source of billable hours when the provincial Conservatives made him the consumer advocate at the public utilities board. Tom has been doing a fine job of advocating for consumers, even if his version puts an interesting twist on what he is advocating for consumers to do. Take last year, for example. Johnson advocated during the Muskrat Falls hearings. He advocated for the Muskrat Falls project. That means, in effect, that consumers will be forced to pay for the entire Muskrat Falls project in their electricity bills, plus profit for the companies involved. Well done, Tom. Consumers will be thanking you in the future. In the meantime, though, Tom is not resting on his laurels. This time, Tom is hard at it advocating during an application by Newfoundland Power for its return on equity. . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Tom Johnson is Redundant #nlpoli The longest filibuster in Newfoundland and Labrador legislative history ended quietly Saturday morning. This was the second filibuster this year and the Telegram’s legislative reported posed a simple question via Twitter before the House closed. What does it say about current Newfoundland and Labrador political culture that we’ve had two such filibusters in a single year? Normally a filibuster is an opposition tactic to hold up a government proposal the opposition doesn’t like. That was the case with the Bill 29 filibuster in the spring. As it turns out, the Muskrat Falls filibuster was different things for different parties. . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Not with a bang, but a whimper #nlpoli Yesterday I had a fair bit of time to kill, so I decided to head to the legislature and take in some of the Muskrat Falls filibusters. As I was sitting in the gallery, with the security people watching me … Continue reading → Premier Kathy Dunderdale likes to pretend that the critics haven’t been able to find a problem with Muskrat Falls. Well, that’s simply not true. They’ve found tons of problems with the project that Kathy Dunderdale is finishing on behalf of Danny Williams. Dunderdale either doesn’t understand the project at all on any level, has deluded herself into believing what she says is true even when it obviously isn’t (the PUB loves Muskrat Falls!), or she just doesn’t give a rat’s bollocks about anything. That’s pretty much what it comes down to. Take your pick but that’s it: one of those three Regardless of any of that, though, you can be assured of one thing. Muskrat Falls is not a very good idea. It is not the lowest cost option for taxpayers. Absolutely. Without question. Not the lowest cost option. . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Perspective #nlpoli The provincial Conservatives will guarantee that taxpayers in Newfoundland and Labrador will be forced to pay for Muskrat Falls no matter what happens to oil prices or with new technology. They are closing the electrical markets on the island portion of the province so that consumers and businesses in Newfoundland can only buy electricity from Nalcor. Under changes to the Electrical Power Control Act, 1994 currently being debated in the House of Assembly, the same provincial Conservatives who fought for years for open access to markets outside the province will close the electricity markets on the island portion of the province to competition. Section 14.1 (1) of the new bill allows that Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro – a Nalcor subsidiary – will have the exclusive right to “supply, distribute and sell electrical power or energy to a retailer or industrial customer in the province.” Retailers or industrial customers will only . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: A closed market #nlpoli So it turns out the provincial government is going to build the Muskrat Falls project. There’s a total shock. The one thing that came screaming out of Monday night’s extravaganza was the desperate intensity of it all. The longer the thing has dragged on the more extreme the rhetoric has become, the grander the claim of spectacle, and the shorter the relevance of the language to what is going on in the province. If they say it often enough, the government and its backers might just believe half of it. -srbp- Natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy was in an exceptionally candid mood in the House of Assembly on Tuesday. He explained that under legislation that will pass before Christmas, Nalcor would be setting electricity rates for industrial users in Labrador. Mr. Speaker, we need a guaranteed revenue stream in order to assure the bond rating agencies and the federal government that there is going to be monies to satisfy the requirements of paying the project. It is as simple as that. So, therefore, there has to be a restricted role of the PUB. The interesting thing, though, is that Jerome couldn’t . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Revenue Streams and Not-so-Captive Markets #nlpoli Premier Kathy Dunderdale on where the money will come from to pay for Muskrat Falls, from the House Assembly on Monday: So, unless there is some catastrophe in Newfoundland and Labrador and everybody decides not to pay their light bills, Mr. Speaker, in that circumstance we might lose the generation facility. I cannot imagine who will buy it with nobody paying their light bills, Mr. Speaker. -srbp- Premier Kathy Dunderdale on the PUB and its review of Muskrat Falls (November 21, 2012): Mr. Speaker, when the PUB produced its report it concurred with Nalcor – and it is in the executive summary right in the front so you might want to read it. It concurred with Nalcor and MHI that based on Decision Gate 2 numbers that we did need the power and indeed it was the least-cost alternative. [Muskrat Falls] Premier Kathy Dunderdale on the PUB and its review of Muskrat Falls [December 11, 2012] We did try to bring this project The Sir Robert Bond Papers: $#*! Jerome Says: federal loan guarantee not firmly in place yet #nlpoliIn the House of Assembly on Tuesday, natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy was pretty clear about the sanction process: “What we have done … [is ] we have slowed down the process in terms of the sanction.” Asked about slowing down the sanction process on Wednesday, natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy told the House of Assembly: “I could be wrong; I do not remember saying anything about slowing down the process.” Interesting. And an Interesting choice of words. . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: $#*! Jerome Says: federal loan guarantee not firmly in place yet #nlpoli Natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy on the financial typhoon of glorious benefits he and his colleagues are about to unleash via called Muskrat Falls: The Province will make a lot of money off this project at some future point in order to not only to pay for the project but to pay for social programs and to allow us to transition from a non-renewable resource economy to a renewable resource economy. [Emphasis added] We are always ready for a better tomorrow, Jerome. Too bad no one can tell us when that day will come. -srbp- “What we have done,” natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy told the House of Assembly on Tuesday, “[is] we have slowed down the process in terms of the sanction.” Kennedy offered no explanation why. . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Government Delaying Muskrat Falls Sanction: Kennedy #nlpoli |
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