It’s not easy being green

Well, at least not under a variety of American state and federal laws in New England especially if you are proposing a hydroelectric project like the Lower Churchill.

Sure, we all think of hydro power as pretty friendly to the environment and a source of energy that is pretty low on carbon emissions.

Heck, in the ruckus over erections in Gros Morne, the provincial government has been pretty quick to talk about how green – as in environmentally friendly  - the Gull Island and Muskrat Falls projects are.

As an aside – in some of the online discussions,  some people have been talking about ripping through the park because it’s a way to sell the power to the United States.  Let’s get this clear:  there is no current proposal to build any transmission lines to the United States through Gros Morne park. 

The line that Danny Williams would drive through a UNESCO World Heritage Site ends just west of St. John’s.  It’s the same line Brian Tobin proposed in 1998.

That’s right. 

It’s a line to bring Lower Churchill power to townies, not Yanks.

And while we are at it, Holyrood will not close either even with the infeed.

The comments coming from some quarters makes plain just how much fundamental ignorance – lack of information, awareness and understanding  – there is out there about major public issues.

But anyway, back to green energy and American markets.

Turns out that American state and federal governments are working to develop new, renewable sources of energy.  They are looking at a system of emission credits and what sorts of projects would qualify for credits. 

If the current trend holds, Big Hydro projects  - just like nuclear plants  - won’t count toward renewable energy credits.  New England states have various rules in place currently that look at qualifying hydro power from plants of less than 100 megawatts.  In some states, even these small hydro projects must not change the water level (i.e. no dams) or otherwise impact the natural environment.

A bill currently in the United States Senate – HR2454 the American Clean Energy and Security Act 2009 – limits hydro that qualifies for certification to incremental power from technological upgrades to existing plants, generation from existing dams built for other purposes and “hydrokinetic generation”, that is power generated by ocean currents, wave action and the like.

So two honking great dams across a river, even a few thousand miles away, isn’t necessarily where the Americans are looking. Missing MOU anyone?

Not surprisingly, some states are looking to find a local economic spin-off from new energy sources.  Rhode Island recently adopted a bill mandating the state electricity distribution company to enter into long term power purchase agreements for upwards of 90 megawatts of power from new renewable sources locate din Rhode Island.  They are looking at a $1.5 billion wind farm project  - among other things - to help meet that requirement.

This doesn’t mean that the New England markets are closed to hydro power from Canada but it does mean that proponents of the Lower Churchill are not looking at easy pickings.  

If states and the US federal government are getting stickier about local renewable projects, there’s a very good chance they’ll get stickier about imports as well. 

That’s the thing about American democracy:  people get to participate.  If an environmental lobby builds up against a project like the Lower Churchill, the thing could have a rough ride.  Imagine what might happen if environmentally conscious consumers managed to figure out that the same people promoting this hydro megaproject are the same people who turn up on CNN promoting some old-fashioned seal bashing.

There’s anothing thing too:  look closely at some of this legislation, like say the Rhode Island bill, and you can see limits on the length of the purchase agreements with a maximum of 15 years.  That’s also an issue to think about given that a project the size of the Lower Churchill would likely be financed over a period twice or three times that.

Are states going to be willing to sign PPAs over such a long period?

Would bondholders be prepared to offer up cash with the prospect that markets could go soft half way through the bond life? How about American lenders who are already hurting through the recession and who may still be leery of investing large sums even after the recession ends?

Any way you want to look at it, the Lower Churchill project is still a very long time from starting.

There are currently no power purchase agreements of any kind with any customer. No PPAs means financing will be much tougher on a project that was estimated to cost at least six to nine billion dollars when talk about the project was revived in 2005-2006. Imagine what it will cost in two years time.

The environmental review process won’t finish until 2011 and that alone puts the project two full years behind the schedule mapped out in 2006.  Hydro Quebec is already well on its way to having power to market from new projects by the time NALCOR is looking to start construction of the Lower Churchill. They’ll have a goodly chunk of their new projects done by the time Muskrat and Gull Island turbines start turning, even if the current 2018 timeline for first power could be met.

On top of that there are serious questions that still exist within the Innu community about the draft land claims agreement between the provincial government and the Innu.  Bear in mind that the federal government should be in there as well, but so far hasn’t offered any comment on the darkness that has befallen the New Dawn.

And all of that is without considering the potential for even a teensy bit of public backlash over environmental issues.

It really isn’t easy being green, is it?

-srbp-

The Great NL Gasoline Price Fixing Scheme: Summer 2009 edition

Gasoline prices in Newfoundland and Labrador are set by the provincial government.

While gasoline prices across North America have been dropping recently, the government’s price fixing mechanism hasn’t kept pace.

To give an idea of the consequences, take a look at this chart.  It shows the average Canadian price per litre (blue) and the average price in Newfoundland (red).

Look closely at that blue line which has been on a steady downward trend since June 20.  The average stands at $1.01 per litre on July 9, down from  $1.06 at peak.

In Newfoundland, the number has pretty much been a steady average above the current average $1.12 per litre since June 20. There were even a couple of upticks in the Newfoundland number during the period.  The current average prices is less than two cents down from the peak.

If none of the previous arguments against government-controlled prices worked, then surely this chart should cause you to sit up and wonder why gas in this province is 11 cents per litre above the Canadian average. 

There’s obviously something wrong.

Seriously wrong.

There have been two big winners from gas price regulation in Newfoundland and Labrador and neither of them is the average consumer.

Gasoline retailers have been gifted with steady and predictable profit margins. They buy at market prices and sell at the government price.  As you can see from the charts below, that can be pretty sweet.

The provincial government also wins.  Its taxes are buried in the price and when the price stays high based on the vagaries of some contrived formula, its tax haul stays nice and fat.

Not surprisingly, there aren’t any politicians calling for the elimination of gas price fixing by the provincial government. In fact, one of the guys who pushed hardest for this scheme – St. John’s mayor Dennis O’Keefe – has been conspicuously silent about the whole issue.

And it’s not like this is a new phenomenon.

Over the past four years not only have prices been substantially above the Canadian average, there are too many occasions where the local prices have bucked the downward trend.  And on some of the upward trends the local price jumps have been disproportionately highly compared to the national average.

Just for good measure, let’s look at the trending over six years.

 

More of the same.

The only astonishing thing in this has been the dead silence from consumers, let alone from the various self-appointed consumer advocates out there, one of whom has managed to find himself a sweet job leading a Great Sittee.

If you didn’t think there was a reason to scrap the government-dictated gasoline price scheme in this province, surely the events this week and this evidence should make you sit up and take notice of what is a fairly obvious problem.

-srbp-

Oil drops 18 % in a week

Prices for front month crude have dropped more than 18% in the past week.

The markets appear to be reacting to news of continued economic uncertainty in the United States and continued gluts in gasoline supplies. Stockpiles of gasoline in the US have grown by 1.9 million barrels last week as Americans curb their driving. 

“The recession is far from over,” said analyst Stephen Schork. “Perhaps the run-up in prices was a bit overstated.”

-srbp-

Strike looming at Sudbury and Voisey’s Bay

Unionized workers at Voisey’s Bay voted on the weekend to reject a contract offer by the employer Vale.

A vote at Vale’s Sudbury operation is also expected to reject the contract, according to the Globe and Mail.

Workers could strike as of August 1.

Related:  Vale chief executive Roger Agnelli has described Vale’s Sudbury operation as unsustainable at current cost levels.

 

-srbp-

Chew the wafer

The Prime Minister is in a bit of a political hard spot with questions over what he did with the  Eucharistic host at the recent funeral for Romeo LeBlanc.

Some say he didn’t eat it, as one is supposed to do, but rather slipped it into his pocket.

His office insists he did the appropriate thing.

Oh yeah.

There’s video, of course.

But it’s basically a piece of junk that shows absolutely nothing other than the PM accepting the communion wafer like everyone else.  If you pay attention to the text slides inserted at the front and the back of the clip, though, you might be fooled into thinking something else happened.

If there’s a question, then perhaps we should look to his staff who may have simply forgotten to make sure that every protocol point was covered.

Frankly, given the occasion – the funeral of a fine and respected gentleman – people should be willing to ignore this even if every accusation were true.  The controversy doesn’t damage Stephen Harper so much as it tarnishes the memory of the late governor general.

So let’s just turn the page on that one, shall we?

And if you want to watch a video that will unsettle some Roman Catholics out there,  just sit back, relax and enjoy a little vintage Tom Lehrer, complete with the introduction to set the stage and Tom’s momentary lapse of memory for his own lyrics:

-srbp-

Of mice and antelope through the looking glass

In this summer of political problems across the province, of meltdowns and power lines, some old posts at Bond Papers take on a renewed relevance.

In November 2006, your humble e-scribbler brought out the idea of mice and antelope as a metaphor for the political problem of focusing on side issues  - trivial issues - rather than keeping eyes on the big prize.

A couple of years into the administration, its tendency to get distracted was plainly obvious.

Now a couple of years into its second term and the tendency has become the main operating method.

Around these parts, we’d say the mouse hunting is one of the big reasons why projects tend to hang around - unresolved - for years or why legislation is passed and then left to the sidelines or why major capital works projects are announced and then seem to take forever before a shovel is even waved above a sod let alone pushed into it.

The thing is that as time goes by, any government that tends to get distracted by mice will wind up having more things not accomplished than it has accomplished.  The magnitude of what it gets done, even if they are big things like offshore oil projects or a massive hydro project,  starts to look puny compared to the mountain of others things that hang around seemingly gathering dust.

That Lewis Carroll notion  - think “un-birthdays” - is one we’ve gone to before.  There is un-communication, for example.  Now it seems to be appropriate to start talking of the current administration’s un-accomplishments.

The Fan Club, at this juncture, is no doubt rushing about shouting something about shooting or lopping off heads, but in doing so they miss the point entirely, as usual.

People typically want their government to succeed.  They like it when schools are built, roads are paved, and jobs are created.  They like it when the party that wins an election actually does all the good things they promised;  sustainable development acts, improvements to open records laws, a New Approach that involves listening to people and giving them substantial input into how they are governed.

Pointing out the shortcomings is a reminder that there are antelope over there aplenty waiting to be slain.

It’s a call to the Fan Club and its idol to stop getting distracted by the mouse scurrying by.

-srbp-

Gros Morne erections trump the unforgettable natural environment

Natural ecosystems were worth protecting in 2007 – the election year – because they define us as a people.

In 2009, yeah, maybe not so much.

The 2007 Progressive Conservative election platform:

“Among our greatest sources of pride is our clean and beautiful natural environment. It defines us. It makes living here wonderful. It makes visiting here unforgettable. Our natural ecosystems are worth protecting for future generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.”

Also from the 2007 Tory election platform:

…enforce the provisions of the Sustainable Development Act regarding the responsible and sustainable development of our natural environment, ensuring that our resource development decisions address the full range of environmental, social and economic values and that workers, environmentalists, industry, communities, aboriginal peoples and others have a say in how our resources are managed. [Note:  You actually have to have a sustainable development act that’s in force in order to enforce it.]

From 2009, the plan for massive steel erections in a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as CBC describes it in their online story:

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams says he is willing to risk losing Gros Morne National Park's UNESCO world heritage status if the cost of preserving it is too high

-srbp-

An equity stake in the province’s natural heritage

A cynic, Oscar Wilde once wrote, is a fellow who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

There is no word, apparently for someone who knows neither the price of stringing hydro lines around Gros Morne National Park nor the value of leaving the park free of the steel girders and humming wires.

In his first media scrum since returning from a weeklong junket to Europe,  Premier Danny Williams said that he was prepared to risk the World Heritage designation for Gros Morne because the cost of the alternative might be $100 million. 

“Might be” since the thing had not been properly costed, according to the Premier:

"We can't just start carving out those kinds of dollars … without even have a proper costing. It's wrong to oversimplify it, but if it meant putting it into health care as opposed to putting it into UNESCO, I would put it into health care, he said.

The value of Gros Morne, untrammelled by NALCOR Energy’s plan to build a giant power line from Labrador to the northeast Avalon, should be obvious to all those who appreciate the national park’s natural beauty.

It’s value  - sans girders - to the provincial tourism department should be equally obvious to everyone who has watched a television ad or looked through a tourism marketing brochure.

But in the meantime, that’s a pretty startling admission:  that after four years and as the project barrels along, the proponents don’t know what it would cost to find another route a few miles to the east of the one they have in mind.

It smacks of scrambling rather than a careful weighing of all options, each properly studied and costed.

Then again, that’s what you’d get if you just abandoned the process you started and decided to go down an entirely different road from the one first proposed. You wind up looking at plans made 25 or 30 years ago, ones that involve slinging lines along a stretch of ground that – when the plans were hatched – weren’t inside a national park.  The national park didn’t exist then.

But the whole thing gets a wee bit bizarre – there’s that all-too-familiar-word again –when you consider that the Premier seems to think $100 million is too much money to talk about:

"It's not as simple as that, but we do have to strike that balance. It's not a small amount of money. It is a significant amount of money."

This is a guy who supposedly is used to dealing with grand schemes that cost in the billions.  The one he wants to push through the park is estimated at upwards of $10 billion.  Even the low-end estimates, which few would believe, put the total cost at somewhere between six and eight billion.  The infeed line alone, the one through the park, is likely to cost a couple of billion.

$100 million against $2.0 billion.

What is that? 

5%?

That’s like half an offshore equity stake’s worth of only a fraction of the whole project.

Surely to Heavens, when put in those terms, Danny Williams can figure out that shifting the steel girders outside the park isn’t really much of anything to do.

He can think of it as his equity stake in the natural heritage of our province.  A piece of the action that he can pass on to future generations.

Shifting the power lines outside Gros Morne might not conjure up the big buck announcements the Premier seems to thrive on, but by recognising the simple value of unadulterated nature, Danny Williams could show that he actually knows both the price of something and the value of something far greater.

-srbp-

One Trick Pony Update:  Apparently, as much as Danny Williams likes to talk about the importance of going it alone, the whole Gros Morne thing seems to be a bit of a dodge to try and force some money out of Uncle Ottawa to fund the whole Lower Churchill scheme:

"If the federal government is interested in an alternate route because of the importance of the UNESCO designation, because of the importance obviously of Gros Morne as a federal park, then I would expect the feds to participate with us in rerouting that cost," Williams said Tuesday.

The cost of developing an alternate route could be as much as $100 million, Williams said, but he added that was a preliminary estimate.

"If in fact we can get support from the federal government and if in fact we can justify another route, then that's something I would prefer to do ... but I can't turn around and say today without proper costing that that's something I would definitely do," he said.

"It's a significant amount of money."

Of course, the project has never been a go-it-alone affair.  Williams has been trying to find federal backing for his grand design from the beginning.

9 Wing Gander to get new buildings

The Department of National Defence will spend $42.5 million on three new buildings at 9 Wing Gander.

One building will give a new home to 91 Construction Engineer Flight, a reserve unit.

Two other buildings will bring together 9 Wing support units from different facilities at the Gander airport.

Work is expected to start in 2011 on the home for 91 CEF.  Work on the other buildings is not expected to begin until 2015.

-srbp- 

NALCOR may be exempted from offshore royalty payments

If the provincial government acts on a provision of the Hebron fiscal agreement, the government’s own energy corporation could wind up paying nothing to the provincial treasury in royalties.

That would set it apart from any other offshore interest holder,  including the federal government’s Canada Hibernia Holding Corporation (CHHC).

Under sections 8.4 of the Hebron fiscal agreement, the Hebron partners agree that the provincial government can “make amendments to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act”…, “make amendments to the Royalty Regulations” or “make an agreement pursuant to section 33 of Petroleum and Natural Gas Act…to adjust, vary or suspend OilCo’s liability for the payment of royalties on oil produced from the Lands”  that would be different from the arrangements with the other project partners.

That provision  - which could see the province’s own oil company pay nothing at all in royalties - might also violate the agreement that is the basis for the province’s offshore wealth.

Under section 41 of  the 1985 Atlantic Accord memorandum of understanding between Ottawa and St. John’s,  “Crown corporations and agencies involved in oil and gas resource activities in the offshore area shall be subject to all taxes, royalties and levies.”

That section was intended to put any Crown corporation operating offshore, federal or provincial,  on the same footing as a private sector corporation.

That section applies to CHHC and should also cover NALCOR Energy.

The provision of the agreement appears to take advantage of hasty 2001 amendments to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act which gave the provincial government the ability to make an agreement on royalties that differed from the generic royalty regime.

Although the changes to the province’s fundamental oil and gas law were substantive, the entire set of amendments passed through the House of Assembly in a single evening with only three speakers.

Energy minister Lloyd Matthews described the changes as “administrative.”  He did not give any detailed discussion of any amendment, and simply glossed over the section on royalty agreements – the new section 33 – as if it was nothing more than a change of numbering.

John Ottenheimer, the opposition energy critic at the time and now the chair of NALCOR Energy’s board of directors,  spoke on the bill but made absolutely no reference to the details of the changes concerning royalties and variance to royalty arrangements.

That’s surprising given that the opposition leader at the time had already begun to speak publicly against give-away resource deals. Section 33 set the legal stage for just such a give away.

Jack Harris also spoke on the bill, spending considerable time criticising the existing royalty regimes.  He made no reference to the substantive changes the bill made to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act.  That’s surprising since section 33 gives the government the right to sign a royalty deal which wasn’t even as lucrative as the existing regimes which he was criticizing. 

Then opposition leader Danny Williams made no comment at all on the bill during debate.

There’s no way of knowing at this point if a similar provision exists in the deal on Hibernia South. Details of the fiscal agreement on that project have not been made public.

-srbp-

CHHC pays off for provincial government

Even without owning it, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador will likely earn more from the federal government’s 8.5% share in Hibernia than it will from its own 10% stake in Hibernia South.

That’s because the Canada Hibernia Holding Corporation (CHHC) pays royalties to the provincial government like any offshore interest holder and with Hibernia in payout, the royalty jumps this year from 5% to the current 30%.

CHHC’s stake covers an 8.5% interest in the remaining oil in Hibernia, including Hibernia South.  The total remaining oil could be as much as  1.2 billion barrels which would work out to the equivalent of about 100 million barrels for CHHC.

NALCOR Energy – the provincial government’s energy corporation  - owns a 10% interest in Hibernia South.  That works out to about 17 million barrels in the approximately 170 million barrels of the extension project in which NALCOR holds an interest.

Assuming an average price $50 per barrel, the NALCOR interest in Hibernia South would generate $850 million in gross revenue over the life of that project, less royalties that might be paid to the provincial government, as well as development and operating costs. The royalty on $850 million would be $255 million, assuming only 30% royalty.

But, using the same price,  the royalty paid by CHHC to the provincial government on the federal stake remaining in Hibernia – including Hibernia South  - would work out to roughly $1.53 billion.  That royalty comes with no deductions.

That’s not a bad return considering the provincial government took virtually no financial risk in Hibernia by acquiring an operating interest.

Between 2000  - the first year royalty payments were made - and 2008, CHHC paid the provincial government a total of $104.8 million according to figures released to Bond Papers by the federal finance department.

Table:  CHHC Hibernia Royalty

Year	Royalty Amount
2008	22,536,000
2007	15,576,000
2006	17,902,000
2005	20,582,000
2004	11,308,000
2003	6,254,000
2002	4,436,000
2001	2,205,000
2000	4,040,000
Total	$104,839,000

-srbp-

Province’s political puff posture goes “Poof!”

Sure, the Premier claimed the provincial government wasn’t participating in the trade talks with the European Union, but Geoff Meeker discovered that over the past 18 months the provincial government has been working with the talks team.

Provincial government officials have been attending regular meetings and they have a seat at the table alongside the other provinces.

Meeker rightly wonders what all the bluster was about earlier this year. Turns out that there may be even more of a dysfunction or disconnect within the provincial government than first appeared.

We might also wonder therefore why the Premier suddenly headed off to Europe last week claiming he was working on the trade talks.

-srbp-

Agricultural land freeze action MIA

The provincial government announced a  review of the agricultural land freeze in the metropolitan St. John’s area  in early 2007.

The commission didn’t hold hearings until 2008, but it managed to submit a report in June 2008.

The provincial government released the report in September 2008.

Of the 1,450 acres recommended for deletion from the ADA, 1,061 acres (75 per cent) are within the boundaries of the Town of Portugal Cove-St. Philips. The report also recommends the deletion of 120 acres from the protected area in the Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove area and 170 acres within the Town of Torbay.

The majority of this land base being recommended for removal from the zone has severe limitations and is unsuitable for agriculture. The review did not recommend any changes in the Goulds or Kilbride area, the main agricultural area in the St. John’s Urban Region.

At the time, the news release said the government was reviewing the recommendations.

A year after the provincial government received the report, there’s no word on what – if anything – came of the recommendations.

-srbp-

Kremlinology 3: Gros Morne version

The provincial government’s  tourism folks love Gros Morne with all its beautiful views and its UNESCO World Heritage Site designation.

The provincial government’s energy folks want to sling 40-odd metre tall hydro towers through the park because it would be cheaper than going around the park.

So when the Telegram goes to the tourism department looking for a media line on a project that has – presumably – been endorsed by cabinet and therefore all of government, the tourism people suggest that reporter go speak to someone else.

Like the natural resources minister, she who oversees the line slingers.

Now it’s not like the comment was about something outside the tourism department’s mandate.  They should have a line on it ready to sling in the event someone asks them about the power line slinging.

But they didn’t.

They instead pointed to the other bunch.

And that’s a bit odd.

It suggests that somewhere in the tourism department there is at least one e-mail, at least one memo perhaps pretty high up the departmental food chain that considers the liner slinging to be “the most serious threat” to any tourism campaign featuring the pristine natural beauty of the province.

There might even be a document of some kind that says that, having looked at the “trade-offs”, the tourism people don’t like the idea of high voltage direct current electricity wire zapping bugs all down through the park.

Because, the surest way to put an end to any news story about the threat to Gros Morne  from the potentially unnecessary infeed from the Lower Churchill – if that even gets built – is to have the tourism people state publicly that having Gros Morne festooned with steel girders and power lines  is just a lot of fuss about nothing at all.

But they didn’t do that.

The tourism people passed the buck to someone else.

Very curious.

-srbp-

“Negativity” and “bloggers” part of Palin excuses

Some aspects of Sarah Palin’s resignation excuses will sound familiar to people living t the other book-end of the continent’s northern reaches.

From the unedited transcript of self-described hockey mom Palin’s public remarks:

It’s pretty insane – my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with THIS instead of progressing our state now.

Palin was referring to complaints of ethics violations against her using state ethics laws.  Palin blamed people she described as “political operatives” for her woes.

Sounds a bit like frivolous access to information requests and people with a personal vendetta against government.

Then there are the comments that come from a senior Alaska Republican official:

Asked why Palin was stepping down as opposed to finishing her term (which ends in 2010), the RGA header cited pesky bloggers and activists as the reason. Palin had insisted she didn't want to put Alaskans through two years of a lame-duck governorship.

"I don't think this is buckling to pressure," said Ayers. "I think this is her coming to the realization that the legislature in Alaska and that some bloggers and activists in Alaska are going to do everything they can to stymie her progress. This is a governor who didn't run for the office because she wanted a title. She wanted to make significant change in the state. She realized that that was no longer going to be able to happen, because things had become so partisan there."

Even that sounds just a wee bit familiar – eerily familiar -  although the specific words used by the province’s Leading Hockey Player may be slightly different:

My biggest frustration in coming from several decades in the private sector to public life is trying to maximize my time to be the CEO of Government and run it to the best of my ability with my management team of Cabinet and public servants, and simultaneously deal with the day to day nonsense of counter- spinning negativity. That's politics, but for a pragmatic results oriented leader with a social conscience it can be very counter productive.[Emphasis added.]

Too negative. Too partisan.

Trying to “progress” but always being held back by these nefarious forces.

Makes you wonder.

Things get tough in Alaska, Palin packs it in.

Things get tough in NewfoundlandLabrador…

-srbp-

Gros Morne international status threatened

Gros Morne national park could lose its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site if NALCOR Energy, the provincial government’s oil, gas and hydro company, succeeds with plans to string a series of high-voltage electric transmission lines through the park.

There are alternatives but NALCOR has dismissed them already as being either costly or technically difficult.
The lines are part of a transmission infeed to bring power from the as yet undeveloped Lower Churchill river to eastern Newfoundland.

The Telegram has that as the front page story on Saturday.

The Gros Morne transmission plan generated opposition from environmental and tourism groups, along with Parks Canada, which must approve the project.

In February, Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador (HNL) chairman Bruce Sparkes first raised the spectre of Gros Morne losing its spot on the United Nations list.

"It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it's been suggested that if you put this corridor down through it, it (may) lose the designation," he says.

"We believe Parks Canada is correct in opposing this."

No one from HNL or Parks Canada would comment for the Telegram.


Deputy premier and natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale was also unavailable for comment.  While Dunderdale was consumed with the fisheries crisis this week, her office couldn’t even deliver a statement by the Telegram’s deadline, as the department had apparently intended.

In February, Bond Papers and others first raised the issue of slinging transmission lines through the park.

The Premier backed the idea:

“When park officials look at what the trade-off happens to be for the benefits we get at the end of day ... I think they will see the benefit,” he said.

One of the trade-offs would presumably be the international designation.  According to the Telegram only two sites have lost the designation.

When the park was established in the 1980s, transmission towers through its pristine natural beauty was described as “the most serious threat” to Gros Morne.

The power lines may not be needed.

A NALCOR official recently told a business group in Gander that adding more wind generation to the island system would not be a good idea until the transmission line is built.  The transmission line would allow surplus power to be exported.

[ NALCOR manager of business development Greg] Jones told The Beacon the province can only produce a limited amount of wind energy because it can cause water to spill from hydro dams if excessive amounts are produced. This roadblock will be eliminated with the introduction of a transmission link in 2016 for the Lower Churchill hydro project.

The infeed is being justified, in part, on the grounds that the island will need additional power sources by as early as 2013. 

However, the environmental assessment documents for the project project only modest growth in residential and industrial demand in the future.  That was before the AbitibiBowater paper plant in Grand falls closed and before Kruger decided to shut down one of its paper machines at Corner Brook on what appears to be a permanent basis.

Jones’ comments suggest that current and future demand on the island can be met with much smaller, less costly alternative generation sources.  Adding wind power now would add to the current surplus, if the full implication of Jones’ comment about water spilling over hydro dams is clear. 

But that also means that added wind power and small hydro developments could continue to displace the Holyrood generating plant and still meet the island’s energy needs.  Holyrood burns oil to generate electricity and has been a subject of ongoing environmental controversy.

While the plant is currently operating at a severely reduced capacity, due to low demand in the summer months, the infeed proposal would require the plant to operate its three generators year-round in order to stabilise the power transmission from Labrador.

The government’s 2007 energy plan committed to replacing Holyrood with other forms of generation.  Also in 2007, natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale highlighted replacing Holyrood as one of the reasons for building the infeed.

In Dunderdale’s scenario selling Lower Churchill power to consumers in eastern Newfoundland  was one way the government planned to under-write the cost of the multi-billion dollar Lower Churchill project. 

No other power purchase agreements have been identified.  A memorandum of understanding with Rhode Island on a block of 200 megawatts appears to have gone no where since it was signed in 2007.

-srbp-

BLTN Update:   CBC is running the story as well, on Monday.  The most interesting feature of this online story are the comments from a raft of pseudonyms - most of whom apparently like the idea of slinging power lines and steel girders through a park where right now the tallest power line is on a wooden poll. 

Nature schmature.

Happy second term, President Obama

Sarah Palin is considered by most to be a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

This should make Republicans in the United States decidedly uneasy. 

Palin’s departure/resignation comments are, in places,  vague and in other places confused.  Notice they are not confusing;  it should be clear to anyone listening that Palin was blabbering incoherent nonsense.  She switches with apparent easy between referring to herself in the singular to referring to herself in the plural, for example. She talks of the need to do some thing – never clearly stated -  in politics from outside politics, as if that was possible.   

Palin proved to be an appalling choice as vice-president, worse than the spelling champion chosen by Bush I.  She is, as John Cleese has described her, a good actor.  A good parrot.  She learns lines and repeats them.  She does not think.

Cleese should know:  he’s worked with an intelligent, funny Palin and a dead parrot in the same sketch.

When Palin had handlers during the presidential campaign she looked better.  She looked better because she had campaign professionals feeding her lines and dressing.  Palin may have complained but it worked.

In Alaska on Friday, Palin on her own, without handlers, massagers and healers, was closer to what American would get in Palin the presidential candidate.

If Sarah Palin – parodied by a comedian who merely copied the politician  without changing a thing -  is a presidential hopeful because she appeals strongly to the party’s voter base, Republicans might wish to do some serious repairs to the foundation of their party.

When they look beyond Palin, they should get ever more concerned.

Her rival is Mitt Romney, another insubstantial lump of plastic.  Both Romney and Palin are on the campaign trail already. The recent election is barely eight months over and already 2012 candidates are working the stump.

That alone should tell much about the prospective candidates.

Sarah Palin’s departure from gubernatoral politic is brilliant, according to Mary Matalin.  Clearly, Matalin is willing to take one for the team, in this case a hit to her credibility.  She is always on message and  always on point which is more than could be said of Palin.

Matalin and her fellow strategists are too sharp not to know the party is in big trouble.  Once the holiday weekend  - and a few heads – starts to clear.  Maybe Matalin and her colleagues should take a look at where their party is going.

For the heights of political success to Sarah Palin, Greatest Hope in a mere two decades.

That should send chills up anyone’s spine.

Oh.

And by the way.

Obama’s second term is guaranteed.  Congrats Mr. President.

And the way things are looking, Biden’s got a serious shot at 2016.  Back to back to back Democrat presidents.

Everyone can thank the likes of Sarah Palin.

-srbp-

Northern Trident ’09 - Port Visit- St. John’s

Two Royal Australian Navy frigates – HMAS Sydney and HMAS Ballarat – will be in St. John’s on Monday July 6 for a port call.

The ships are on a round-the-world voyage called Operation Northern Trident 2009.

HMAS Sydney (FFG 03) is one of six ships built for the Royal Australian Navy based on the American Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates. Adelaide, the name-ship for the Australian navy, and Canberra have been decommissioned.

HMAS Ballarat (FFH 155) is one of 10 ANZAC-class frigates and was initially designed to patrol Australia’s exclusive economic zone. The ships began entering service in 1996 and are based on a modified German design. Ballarat was commissioned in 2004.

Each ship carries a variety of weapons, including SH-70 Seahawk helicopters.

-srbp-

R.I. M.O.U. M.I.A.

A memorandum of understanding between the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the State of Rhode Island in mid-2007 appears to have vanished.

The MOU committed the parties to a two-phase process that was touted as part of a potential sale of 200 megawatts of power to the small state after 2015. 

The first phase – to last six months  - was to consist of a “mutual assessment of the merits of long-term sale and purchase agreement, as well as the development of an action plan to address any technical, regulatory and statutory requirements of the transaction.”

That was due at the end of 2007 but aside from a vague comment from natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale in May 2008, there’s no word on whether or not the assessment was ever concluded and what happened to the power purchase agreement talks.

The second phase was to consist of negotiation of a power-purchase agreement and hinged on the successful completion of the first phase.

The power would come from the Lower Churchill River development.

-srbp-

VOCM website = GCRI

VOCM’s new website is turning into a bit of a disaster.

A new feature that lists the most popular news stories also allows for old stories that are long since out-dated to appear next to other stories that continue a story as it plays out.

The one that stands out right now is the story of a man who died on Tuesday after hitting a parked truck on the Outer Ring Road a week ago today.

We already noted that the website featured a story yesterday that had the guy still alive, two days after he succumbed to his injuries.

Things aren’t any better on Friday. 

This is a screen capture of the site at about quarter past eight on Friday, July 3.  As you can see, one story which reports the guy is dead is listed as the second most “popular” story.  Farther down there is still the story that he’s in critical condition.

Someone looking for the latest news – something VO used to be famous for – is now confronted with stories from different dates that give different aspects of the same story.  If you didn’t check the dates or if, as yesterday showed, the older story is “more popular”, then you’ll be getting out-dated information.  Badly outdated information.

And while we’re at it, how in the name of merciful heavens can anyone justify having a “most popular” post space on a news site?  It works on a blog because it simply shows what people are most interested in.

A news site where it’s greatest hits can include some gruesome, grizzly stories should not be promoting those stories based on any notion popularity.  A simple hit counter associated with each story, as CBC online does, allows the reader to gauge how many people have been reading it.  That’s useful.  In the CBC case, they track the number of comments and the number of people who have “recommended” a story.

The VO website redesign is garish enough.  There are some good features but it is, for the most part, pretty ugly.  What’s even uglier is this “most popular” news story feature.

VO had a well-deserved reputation for getting stories fast and delivering the raw details concisely.  It’s news room had and has some sharp, professional people in it.  They might be relatively young in some cases but they worked hard at getting it right.

Correction.

It’s not ugly.

It’s gruesome. 

Crass.

On top of that it is rude and insulting both to VO’s audience and to its newsroom staff.

-srbp-