He was asked to comment on the prospects that the Irving's announcement of a second refinery at Saint John hurt the potential Dalton's team would go ahead with their project.
[Dalton] said Saint John and Placentia Bay - the site of North Atlantic Refining's operation in Come By Chance and the prospective site for its plans - are the top two ports on the continent for refining traffic.That's another one of those "Huh?" moments. The ones where you look at the words and develop that face like a dog hearing a noise he can't quite figure out.
"You can look in Europe, you can look all along the Eastern Seaboard of North America...these two sites just stand out," Dalton told CBC News.
The site isn't the driver. It's the cost and the potential to return the money invested.
Dalton didn't speak to that point, nor did he speak to the fact that event Irving's are trying to find funding partners.
Like Dalton's group, which has practically no experience in refinery construction and operations.
But plenty of experience bankrolling projects.
Hmmm.
At Bond Papers, we'll stick to our contention that Irving put a major dent in prospects for a second refinery in this province when they announced a second refinery for the New Brunswick port city.
We'll even add to that.
The chances are much higher now that the overseas investors Dalton and Altius Minerals has lined up will be looking hard at going into business with the Irving's in New Brunswick rather than sinking their billions into a greenfield project in Newfoundland and Labrador.
