The July Drivers

Maybe you were one of the 11,472 visitors who hit 15,026 pages at Bond Papers during July.  If you were, odds are you enjoyed these, the 10 most popular pages from July, 2010:

1. General and master corporal face charges over relationship (so far out in front, it was in another month)
2. Five years of secret talks on the Lower Churchill:  the Dunderdale audio.  (The mainstream continues to ignore the big story but the public won’t)
3. Bristol collapses owing more than $6.0 million
4. And no fish swam (helped no doubt by a mention on the Fisheries Broadcast)
5. When will she get the flick?
6. HQ and NALCOR on same side in US transmission line play
7. Court docket now online
8. Scientists find new sea creatures near deepwater exploration sites
9. Telly web design sucks, kills RSS feed to popular content
10. There is a green hill (not so far away)

The number one story was a national story and involved illicit sex.  That’s two massive boosts for it right there.

Bur the surprise second is the story the mainstream media have completely ignored since it broke last September. They haven’t even mentioned it once, yet it is absolutely true and no one has even tried to refute it. Well, they may have ignored it but people are clearly very interested in finding out that Danny Williams spent five years secretly trying to sell Hydro-Quebec an ownership stake in the Lower Churchill, without any redress on the Churchill Falls contract.

In the end it was no sale and not for any other reason than they just weren’t that into him. They had other things to do. And everything else Danny’s uttered since last July on the Lower Churchill and Quebec is just plain ole bullshit.

Anyone who thinks fisheries policy isn’t interesting to people might want to take note of Number 4 on July’s hit parade. It’s all about fisheries policy. What’s even more remarkable is that it doesn’t endorse the bullshit – there’s that word again – that infests the Gus and Ryan show on commercial radio.

The court docket post remains popular, not to mention testimony to the number of lawyers who drop by Bond’s corner for a read and a larf.

The last post worth a special mention is the one about the Telegram’s site redesign.  There’s another post in the works on this but it’s on hold until the Telly crew manage to sort themselves out. Hint: a week is way too long to leave the blogs totally shagged up;  the positives on the new design are fast being overshadowed by the cock-ups.

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Quebec and Vermont to keep talking power

Quebec and Vermont have extended the July 31 deadline to reach a long-term power purchase agreement but officials quoted by Bloomberg are optimistic the two sides will reach a deal shortly.

The deal would see Vermont purchase 225 megawatts from Quebec from 2012 to 2038. When the two sides announced a tentative deal in March, they set 31 July as the deadline for the deal.

Vermont’s major electricity producer is looking at a long-term purchase to replace an existing one with Hydro-Quebec.  The state may also be in the market for additional power to replace generation at the 38 year old Yankee nuclear generator.

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Traffic Drivers, July 26- Jul 30

1. Bristol collapses owing more than $6.0 million.
2. Three on a match and then some: another failure of taxpayer cash give-away  policy.
3. Did he expense that?
4. The past in our digital present.
5. Game on! Feds and Quebec start talks on Gulf Accord.
6. Kremlinology 23:  a little something for everyone.
7. Court docket now online.
8. A view into the Afghan war.
9. Telly web design sucks, kills RRS feed to popular content. (A re-tweet really drove this one)
10. Drill baby, drill:  Dunderdale rebuffs Quebec concerns on border, oil spill response.

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iPhone mania (with picture)

A determined gaggle of iPhone devotees lined up in several places across Canada on Friday to get their latest fix.

This shot is outside the Apple store on Ste-Catherine in Montreal. They were there all day, lined up around the corner as well as at cell phone company outlets.

Did these phones come with the design flaw fixed for free?

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Sins of omission

“Five key bridges in the western portion of the T’Railway Provincial Park that closed in 2008 are now re-opened to park users. … [The five bridges are being ] replaced as a result of a $3.6 million allocation in Budget 2010: The Right Investments – For Our Children and Our Future.”

That’s part of the first paragraph of a happy-news release from the province’s environment.  It’s one of dozens issued every week in July as part of the happy-news offensive mounted by the provincial government in the run up to August’s scheduled polling by the provincial government pollster.

The release leaves out much relevant detail.

Not surprisingly, that detail is embarrassing to the provincial government and especially to the ever-embarrassing minister, Charlene Johnson.

For starters, the bridges in questions were all former railway bridges inherited by the provincial government in 1988 when the railway closed.  The provincial government took responsibility for the bridges but until 2008 – apparently  - did nothing with them.

No maintenance.

No repairs.

No inspections either, apparently.

At all.

That is until the federal government inspected a few that crossed over federally-monitored waterways.  They found a raft of them in what appeared to be perilous states of disrepair. 

In one case, one of the bridges had vanished entirely.  When inspectors showed up to take a lookee-look, they couldn’t find anything except the footings on either shore.

So basically this splendiferous investment of more than three and a half millions could have been avoided or at least spread out over time if someone – anyone – at any point along the way had decided to do some regular maintenance on the bridges.

Or even taken a peek at them once in a while.

Even an auditor general’s report in 2003 on inadequate inspection of road bridges seems to have prompted any action on the former railway bridges, the ones now used by pedestrians, snowmobilers and ATV operators.

None of this, by the by, stopped Johnson from claiming that her department prized public safety. As your humble e-scribbler noted at the time:

We understand the inconvenience of the closure of these structures; however, public safety has to be our number one priority," said Minister Johnson.

But...

Environment Minister Charlene Johnson said today the province does not conduct routine safety assessments of structures on the T’Railway, which is a provincial park.

“There’s no regular inspections, no,” Johnson said in response to questions from reporters.

That sort of bumbling is why some people find it odd that Charlene has adopted a tone of haughty arrogance when dealing with issues like the Abitibi expropriation fiasco or offshore oil.

That sort of bumbling is also likely why Charlene’s publicists decided to torque this release without any reference  whatsoever - an omission in other words - to the mess that started it all.

But all of it doesn’t explain the real sin of omission here:  namely the explanation of why the Premier keeps this minister in a job for which she is clearly unqualified and at which she has clearly been a disaster of BP proportions.

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Game on! Feds and Quebec start talks on Gulf Accord

The Government of Quebec and the federal government started talks recently aimed at achieving an agreement on revenue sharing for any oil and gas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canadian Press reported.

Details about what the deal would entail, and when it would be implemented, remain vague. But [federal natural resources minister Christian] Paradis described the broad outlines while standing next to [Quebec natural resources minister Nathalie] Normandeau at an event earlier this week.

"We're talking about an administrative deal," he said.

"The goal is to create an office of hydrocarbons, as is the case in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland."

At the heart of the move is a potentially lucrative field known as Old Harry.  Believed to contain significant natural gas or oil reserves, the field lies across a boundary between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador proposed in 1964 but never accepted. 

Both Quebec and the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board have issued permits to Corridor Resources to explore Old Harry.

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Related:

• Jurisdiction dispute holding up oil exploration (January 2009)
• Corridor hits big gas (May 2010)
• There are gulfs and then there are oilspill gulfs (June 2010)
• Drill baby, drill: Dunderdale rebuffs Quebec concerns about border, offshore oil spills (July 2010)

Did he expense that?

Right on the heels of a new appointment for something called a “legislative assistant” comes a news release that tells us that Ed Buckingham  - member of the House of Assembly for St. John’s East - filled in for Charlene Johnson at an announcement in Burgeo.

This raises some interesting questions, not the least of which is who paid Ed’s costs.

You see they weren’t ministerial expenses so they don’t turn up on the periodic disclosure of expenses by cabinet ministers.

And they weren’t expenses in the House of Assembly because this is a government job.  Ed shouldn’t be expensing them in the legislature.

The department should be covering the bill.

But interestingly enough, they don’t have to disclose any of the costs for travel by this odd bird called the legislative assistant or even confirm what if any pay goes with the title unless someone goes through the exercise of submitting an access to information request.

Of course, you wouldn’t even think to do that because until the Paul Davis announcement, these little jobs flew under the radar screen.  Sort of like “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Funny idea for a government that supposedly wants to be open, transparent and accountable.

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Kremlinology 23: a little something for everyone

Newbie member of the House of Assembly Paul Davis picked up a rather conspicuous new job on Tuesday.

He is the new legislative assistant for the municipal affairs department. 

Now this stands out for a bunch of reasons. 

First of all, this job doesn’t really exist, as such.  It’s one of those made-up jobs.  There are parliamentary secretaries as set down by the Parliamentary Secretaries Act. These people help ministers of large departments in what are effectively training positions for future cabinet ministers.

But legislative assistants?  They aren’t really mentioned.

That’s the second thing that makes this noticeable.  This appointment got a news release praising Davis to the hilt.  There’s no reference at all to what the job entails.

You might be surprised to find that Tracy Perry is the legislative assistant in InTRD.  She’s actually on the departmental website.  But there doesn’t seem to be a news release on her.

But what about Ed Buckingham, the guy representing St. John’s East?  Well, there is a single passing reference to him – by district, not name – as the legislative assistant for environment. Maybe he got punted from the job:  he isn’t on the departmental website any more.

Thirdly, this one stands out because of all the departments needing help, municipal affairs ain’t it. The department doesn’t generate much in the way of legislation so it’s pretty hard to imagine what Davis is going to be doing. Charlene could use Ed Buckingham to help her find where the boundary on her responsibilities are.  And if Ed had his turn at the assistant’s gig, then Davis’ police experience in finding things could come in handy for Charlene.

Fourthly, Davis’ appointment stands out because it is in a department where the minister is on the mend from a rather serious illness. Might that be the reason he is on the job now? If Whalen is still on the mend, then Davis might be able to take on some extra duties as a proto-minister without actually forcing a cabinet shuffle.

After all, a cabinet shuffle would be rather noticeable at this point.  Someone already pointed out that we are overdue for a Williams cabinet shuffle. Is this an effort to skate by?

Fifthly, Davis is rather junior to be getting a nice little plum.  He’s the last man in. Others – like say, political rainbow man Steve Kent -  have been around the House since 2007 doing little more than nursing their frustrated ambition.

Sixthly and perhaps most tellingly, Davis’ appointment draws attention to the number of people in Danny Williams’ caucus who are drawing extra pay.

There are 19 people in cabinet, four parliamentary secretaries (the maximum under the statute), one parliamentary assistant and at least two and maybe three of these strange birds called legislative assistants.*

Then there is the speaker, deputy speaker, chair of committees, deputy chair of committees, whip, caucus chair and the vice chair of the public accounts committee.

Altogether, that’s 33 people out of a 44 member caucus in a 48 seat legislature. In any normal legislature, that would be just about all the Tory caucus.  That’s about the same number of people drawing extras as we saw in the last days of Roger Grimes’ crowd and in the late 1980s as first Brian Peckford and then Tom Rideout staggered toward the end of the 1985 mandate.

In both instances, the parties had been in power for more than a decade. The extra pay helps to placate people who might never get a shot at cabinet in a caucus that might not get re-elected to government again.

In other cases, the extra pay is a way of keeping the peace among a restless and ambitious crew.  Politicians without much to do – and that would be most of the Tory caucus these days – have a disquieting tendency to spend their time brooding and plotting.  A few bucks can go a long way to distracting the potential revolutionaries from their course or co-opting a perceived rival.

But does any of that fit?

Maybe yes. 

Maybe no.

There’s more to the Davis announcement than the couple of paragraphs in the release. Sometimes with these things it takes a while for the story to emerge.

 

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*  There could be another one, by the by.  There’s also a passing reference to one for Joan Burke.  It's hard to tell if this is an elected member or – as would normally be the case – a reference to a political staffer called the legislative assistant.  The staffer is the one who helps the minister or house leader manage the administrative aspects of the House.

Bristol collapses owing more than $6.0 million

The unexpected collapse of regional marketing firm Bristol leaves a string of secured and unsecured debts totalling more than $6.0 million.

The company has unsecured debt of more than $3.2 million and secured debt of $2.8 million. The details are contained in documents filed in Moncton with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy and posted to the Chronicle Herald website.

Most of the creditors are media outlets the company had not paid for advertising placement. Bristol went into receivership owing NTV, Newfoundland and Labrador’s major private television broadcaster, more than $105,000, for example. Newspaper publisher TransContinental is owed more than $300,000 in various headings.

Other unsecured creditors include:

• the City of St. John’s, which is owed more than $27,000,
• the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador ($2,000),
• Fortis Properties ($104,056.60, possibly for rent for and renovations to its St. John’s offices), and
• Halifax Metro Centre ($83, 726.33),

Bristol also owes $1.7 million to the Bank of Nova Scotia and $1.125 million to Business development Canada.

Unpaid staff wages is over $229,000.

The bankruptcy filing lists more than $4.4 million in accounts receivable of which it expects to be able to recover $2.2 million. Total assets, including machinery, furnishings and securities totals $2,825,000.

That leaves $3,284,669.36 in debt that isn’t covered by any assets.

The Newfoundland and Labrador registry of Companies shows the following directors for Saga Investments, the holding company that owned Bristol:

• Rob Crosbie
• Richard Emberley
• Darell Fowlier [sic]
• Paul Kent
• Louis Leger
• Brian Mersereau
• Larry Nelson
• Noel Sampson

Some elements of Bristol date back over 30 years.  Bristol Communications began life as Saga Communications in 1976.  It changed its name to Bristol in 1992.

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The past in our digital present

What happened yesterday is a way of understanding what is happening today.

Here’s a macro retweet of @suenew – King’s professor Sue Newhook:

You can't understand new digital world without a grasp of history: invu with @stephenfry http://ow.ly/2gt2C

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Three-on-a-match and then some: another failure of taxpayer cash give-away policy

The list of failures is growing for the Williams administration give-aways of public money to businesses.

In late 2008, Progress Software received $325,000 in an interest free loan from the Williams administration.  The company was supposed to add 10 new software engineering positions to the company’s operation in St. John’s.

The company closed its St. John’s office less than 18 months later without adding any new employees.  NTV and the Telegram reported the story this month but neither version is available online.

According to the Telegram, the provincial government is looking for the money back.  The company has agreed to repay it but to date there’s no sign of any cash.

The story is all too familiar. 

In May, the Telegram reported that Kodiak received an $8.0 million interest free loan of taxpayer cash from the same government fund – the Business Attraction Fund -  to add 75 new positions at its boot-making factory in Harbour Grace.  Instead, the company slashed its workforce.

There’s no word on whether the provincial government has sought repayment of any of that money at all.

Bond Papers readers will recall SAC Manufacturing.  That company went belly up a mere four months after it received a total of $675,000 in taxpayer cash from the provincial government. 

According to the province’s auditor general, the money would likely have to be written off.  In late 2009, though, the provincial government’s audited financial statements still showed the shares in SAC manufacturing and in another failed company on its books as assets.  That fourth company – Consilient – figured prominently in an auditor general’s report criticising the way the Williams administration hands out business development cash.

Fortunately for taxpayers, sometimes these deals fall apart before the company gets the cash.Last month, taxpayers watched  - likely with jaws agape - as natural resources minister Kathy Dunderdale entertained a proposal from a bankrupt company seeking $52 million to take over the defunct paper mill at Grand Falls-Windsor.  Neither Dunderdale nor her officials seemed to know what was going on until the story broke about the bankruptcy and the company withdrew its offer.

The litany of failure stands in stark contrast to the 1995 EDGE program.  At a cost to date of $17 million, the program has produced between 1500 and 1600 jobs.

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A view into the afghan War

1.  A leaked document describing events at Combat Outpost Keating and Observation Post Fritschie is posted at the New York Times website. The Taliban attack occurred on 03 October 2009, opening at night with fire from a B-10 recoilless rifle.

2.  Part One of an interview conducted on 14 Oct 09 with a participant in the battle.

3.  Stills from COP Keating with some night vision footage at about 3:30 from the events on 03 Oct.

4.  Previous attacks on COP Keating turned up in a CBS News report on 05 Oct 09.

5. This video – labelled “Kamdesh Firefight 2010” -  appears to be an attack on COP Keating.

DFO doesn’t do research: the video proof

Here is proof from CTV that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans does not do fisheries research.

It is not like this story doesn’t have a number of angles that connect it to stories that are running locally like fisheries research, custodial management and deepwater oil drilling.

And that’s without even mentioning that – as CTV teases it up – this is about one of the most important marine biological discoveries in recent years  never mind that it happened offshore Newfoundland.

Have any local news outlets covered this story at all?  Maybe they have and your humble e-scribbler just missed the reports.

But if they haven’t covered it, you kinda wonder why not.

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9:35 AM Sunday Morning Update:  cbc.ca/nl has a story on the expedition  - finally - but the focus is on Memorial University.  There is no reference to any other participants in the scientific expedition even though it included participation from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, one other unidentified Canadian university and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans

The only reference to fisheries and oceans is the photo credit for one rather drab photo of a species of coral that the cutline identifies as being already known.

Here’s an example of the other photographs that DFO released [link to Montreal Gazette photo gallery] from the expedition.

Bond Papers brought you more detail on July 21.

Awesomeness Update:  CBC’s online story now includes Glenn Deir’s video report (last week’s Here and Now)  right at the start, embedded in the piece instead of off to one side.  The addition includes large colour photos from DFO’s handout set

This shows a few things, not the least of which is that your humble e-scribbler needs to find a better way to keep track of what is being broadcast locally.  The most important lesson though is that CBC’s website presence can really transform its coverage using both print (the web story text) and video (Glenn’s report) to something that is stunning to watch.  A rather bland still went up first but by Sunday evening, CBC had the piece in all its colourful glory.

Awesome!

Inaccurately accurate university enrolment trends

This past week, CBC Radio’s Morning Show interviewed Reeta Tremblay, Memorial University vice president (academic) about a Statistics Canada report on university enrolment for the period 2005-06 to 2008-09.

They did the interview – as host Jeff Gilhooley said in the introduction – based on CBC’s belief that enrolment was  going up.

Now where they got that idea is a mystery since the Statistics Canada figures – taken directly from enrolment figures at the province’s only university – have shown the trending consistently in every annual report they’ve delivered for the past three or four years. The trend is unmistakeable:  enrolment at Memorial University declined in the period.

In fact, the trending was so clear and undeniable that some of us wondered how the two foreign experts who delivered the report on Grenfell autonomy could have possible come up with their bullshit ideas about increasing enrolment when the trends (and the potential student population) were headed downward).

Turns out, those of us who questioned their report were right since even the Old Man himself had to abandon his 2007 election commitment in light of the facts.

But that’s another story.

The crowd at CBC must have been a bit surprised that Reeta Tremblay didn’t actually dispute the Statistics Canada numbers.  The CBC web story has a lede saying Tremblay contradicted Statistics Canada but the fact is she didn’t.  Tremblay just said that the more recent figure for 2009/10 would show a small increase in enrolment.

What Tremblay did do, though, is give credit to aggressive recruiting both at the graduate and undergraduate level for the change in direction. Where to begin untangling that foolishness?

Well, firstly, Tremblay might want to credit the recession with the uptick.  Once the rest of us see the full set of numbers, it might confirm a usual trend, namely that some people who get laid off go back to school. If there is an uptick in Memorial’s enrolment, the recession might have helped a wee bit.

Secondly, and more importantly, that increase in graduate enrolment actually is a mess in and of itself, as Reeta well knows.

Bond Papers readers will recall the sorry tale last March of grad studies dean Noreen Golfman trying desperately to paint lipstick on the pig of a problem she has with fellowships for her academic charges.

Beginning in the fall of 2010 – a period neither Reeta nor the crowd at Stats Can yet has figures for – new grad students won’t be getting any financial help from the university in the form of fellowships valued at $12,000 to $15,000.

The won’t be getting the cash because the senior administration at the university  - including coughreetacough – were forced to freeze the budget on financial assistance to masters and doctoral students in order to cope with a $2.0 million shortfall in the budget for that financial aid.

The budget is short because someone or some group of someones allowed grad school enrolment to balloon by 60% in a single year.  Interestingly that balloon came in the year Reeta cited as one that shows the university enrolment is up. 

But anyway, as your humble e-scribbler put it in March,

Freezing spending is not, as Golfman claimed, “sending the right signal about being fiscally responsible.” Rather it sends a signal that someone or some group of someones was so utterly incompetent that they let the situation develop in the first place. The university administration had to freeze the thing in place or face catastrophe.

Now this isn’t a big issue because you read it here.  It’s a big issue.  It’s such a big issue that…well… let’s let the head of the university professors association tell you, as he told people back in March:

"It means that it will be very difficult to attract graduate students to the university this coming year because when you're a graduate student you apply to different universities and see who is going to offer you the best package," [faculty association president Ross] Klein says. "It affects the stature of the university because the graduate programs are one of the things that raise the stature."

So while the issue about enrolment trends at the province’s only university may show an uptick in 2009/10, we do know that one of the causes for that increase produced a corresponding freeze in financial support for graduate students.

That is a much bigger story than the one CBC had.

And, in case, you missed it, the deeper story is a tale of managerial incompetence, not the rosy yarn of super-effective recruiting that the academic vice-president offered up to Jeff Gilhooley one morning last week.

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Traffic Drivers, July 19-23

1. There is a green hill (not so far away)
2. Telly web design sucks, kills RSS feed to popular content
3. Drill baby drill:  Dunderdale rebuffs Quebec concerns about border, offshore oil spills
4. Government website still POS
5. Scientists find new sea creatures near deep water oil exploration sites
6. New 500 MW intertie for NS and NB
7. The Irish Miracle
8. Forever blowing bubbles
9. Fragile economy – the Public Sector
10. Semrau guilty on one count, not guilty on others

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The Irish Miracle

From a Globe and Mail article on some of the human consequences of the Irish economic disaster:

After almost 20 years as Europe’s strongest economy, during which hundreds of thousands of Polish, British and North American immigrants flocked to Dublin for work, the Irish are once again a nation of emigrants. Moving abroad, a response to the economic calamities of the past 170 years, has once again become the way out of an impossible situation at home, and is creating a new Irish diaspora.

Statistics show that the shift from an immigrant-receiving population to a largely outgoing one began just as Ireland suffered the continent’s most precipitous economic collapse – a freefall that began with the collapse of a real-estate bubble, which in turn set off bank collapses and government-debt emergencies. The result has been double-digit unemployment.

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Telly web design sucks, kills RSS feed to popular content

While most readers here liked to click out to links at the Telegram,  the design geniuses at TransCon have decided they don’t need the traffic.

With the new sucky design for the Transcon websites in the province, they’ve eliminated the RSS feeds for columnists and blogs. As such, your humble e-scribbler can’t give you the easy links off to the latest content from Wangersky, Wakeham, Griffin or Meeker. The feed for news turns out to be the feed to local news only. 

Oh well.

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Offshore board releases complete #oilspill response plans

From the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board:

“The CNLOPB wishes to advise that Operator Oil Spill Response Plans will be available to the public upon request, and the plans will include oil spill trajectory model information and oil spill response management information that had previously been redacted.

Redaction of this information had been done based on advice given to staff, but the decision to release the information now is being made in the interest of the public’s right to know.

The CNLOPB committed to make Oil Spill Response Plans available to the pubic and to redact only the information that falls within a classification of being either personal, proprietary or security sensitive information.

Copies of the plans are available on request by e-mailing information@cnlopb.nl.ca”

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Drill, baby, drill: Dunderdale rebuffs Quebec concerns about border, offshore oil spills

In a letter to Quebec natural resources minister Nathalie Normandeau, Newfoundland and Labrador deputy premier Kathy Dunderdale said that the provincial government had no plans for a moratorium on oil drilling offshore and dismissed any question about the interprovincial border in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The Montreal Gazette reported Wednesday on the exchange of correspondence between the two ministers in a story that highlights the border dispute and its impact on oil exploration in the Gulf.

According to the Gazette, Normandeau wrote Dunderdale to ask what measures were contemplated in light of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Dunderdale replied that Newfoundland had adopted "new oversight measures," had no plans for a moratorium on offshore drilling, and noted Normandeau's reference to a " 'cross-border geological structure,' by which I assume you are referring to the Old Harry prospect."

There’s no clear indication when the letters flew back and forth but the provincial government’s position has been clear since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in late April.

Premier Danny Williams dismissed calls for an offshore drilling moratorium in early June.  As in his remarks in early May, Williams focused on three fields in the north Atlantic.  He ignored other areas including the Gulf of St. Lawrence where the Old Harry field promises to match or dwarf Hibernia in size.

Williams referred to meetings he held in Calgary with officials of two companies operating offshore Newfoundland and Labrador.  As CBC reported,

The premier said he's confident the companies are doing everything possible to prepare in case a similar situation ever happens off the province's shores.

"I also asked them to elaborate for me on what additional measures have been put in place and am actually in the process of preparing a list and would only be too delighted to provide a list of the safeguards that were in place and the additional safeguards that are being put in place," Williams said…

It was not clear from the context of his comments if he was meeting with them in his capacity as premier of the province or as their de facto partner in offshore oil development. In some respects that wouldn’t matter since under some conditions of the Hebron agreement, Williams is legally obliged to follow the position dictated by the oil companies to oppose any new regulations that would  - in the opinion of the oil companies – adversely affect Hebron development.

Corridor Resources holds exploration permits from Quebec and from the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board for the Old Harry field.  Work on the permits has been hampered by a dispute over the border between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador and by the absence of a jurisdiction arrangement between the Government of Quebec and the Government of Canada over the seabed resources in the Gulf.

While Danny Williams has been focusing his public comments on the distant offshore – and downplaying the implications as a result -  a spill from any future Old Harry development could have disastrous consequences.  This map, produced earlier this year, shows a map of the British Petroleum spill superimposed on Old Harry.

The dashed lines represent interprovincial boundaries but, for Newfoundland and Labrador,  only the one between the province and Nova Scotia is formally in place.  The boundary with Quebec shown in this map has never been formally adopted.

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Scientists find new sea creatures near deep water oil exploration sites

Scientists from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, three Canadian universities and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography have discovered marine life previously unknown to science in international waters offshore Newfoundland.

The team has turned up two species of coral and six types of sponge living thousands of feet below the ocean surface.

The researchers are investigating 11 specific areas offshore that collectively cover  a portion of seabed  one and a half times the size of Prince Edward Island. The areas examined include Sable Gully, the Flemish Cap and the Orphan Knoll.

The Flemish Cap is a relatively shallow area and a well-known fishing ground. The Orphan Knoll is in much deeper water about 500 kilometres east of St. John’s.

Almost a dozen areas around the Flemish Cap and the Orphan Knoll received protections by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization after the United Nations passed a resolution on vulnerable marine ecosystems. Research from this trip will be used to determine if those protected areas need to be refined or expanded when they are reviewed next year, and could determine future fishing policy.

The Flemish Cap, marked in the picture below with a red “X”, and the Orphan Knoll, outlined with a red dashed line, are also prominent features adjacent to areas currently open to oil exploration.

The team is using remotely piloted vehicles as part of a 20 day expedition.  Some of the dives have been to depths of 3,000 metres.

Information collected during the expedition may help to understand temperature and chemical changes in the ocean over the course of the last 1,000 years.  Some of the corals found may live that long.

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Related: “Agency withholds key elements in plans for spills” Postmedia News, July 21, 2010