Transcon’s Michael Johansen on the latest twist in the Lower Churchill saga: Creak, creak, creak … rattle, rattle, rattle … snap! Screeeeeeech … kerplunk! Hear that? That’s the sound of the wheels once again falling off the Newfoundland government’s 30-year-old Lower Churchill campaign bus. Meanwhile, the Chronicle-Herald editorial crew think
Continue readingTag: Muskrat Falls
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Here kitty, kitty #nlpoli
Apparently natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy, Liberal leader Dwight Ball and NDP leader Loraine Michael will debate Muskrat Falls on VOCM this week. Okay, leave aside for a second the fact it is Jerome versus party leaders and not the three party leaders or Jerome and the natural resources critics
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: That’s the best he’s got #nlpoli
As a rule when you start attacking the other guy’s character or attributing motives to him, you’ve admitted you don’t have much of an argument of your own Natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy went back to the line on Wednesday that critics of the Muskrat Falls project are “politically motivated”
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Inadvertent humour, the MHI report edition #nlpoli
The Telegram editorial on the Manitoba Hydro review of Muskrat Falls is a tidy bit of work with some sound advice: The bottom line? Anyone who wants to say anything — either for or against — about this project should read the whole report carefully, and with an open mind.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: So haunted by ghosts #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Hear what comfortable words our Premier sayeth: For generations gone by, the undeveloped hydro-power resources of the Lower Churchill were, for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, like a treasure just out of reach, tantalizingly close but never close enough to enjoy. The gatekeepers of the natural transmission route through Quebec were denying
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The trap of fossil fuels #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Muskrat Falls green. Right? Get rid of Holyrood. Holyrood bad. No more oil burning. Must be true. After all, natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy tweeted a couple of weeks ago that: The cost of oil makes Holyrood so expensive. At peak it burns 18,000 barrels of oil per day. Experts
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: It’s a nice project, but… #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Manitoba Hydro’s limited review of Muskrat Falls is now available publicly. Manitoba Hydro concluded that the project is indeed the lower cost option of the two they were limited to studying and using all the assumptions they had to use under the question set for them by the people behind
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Terawatts for Terra Nova and other fun #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Energy analyst Tom Adams points to some problems with the Muskrat Falls project and, in the process, turns out one of the biggest bits of critical commentary on Muskrat Falls in a while. You know because the good folks at Nalcor took the time to write a post for their
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Adams and Nalcor: Second Round #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Energy analyst Tom Adams’ latest blog post on the Muskrat Falls project takes direct aim at the water studies used by Nalcor to support its claim that the plant will produce 4.9 terawatts of electricity each year. Adams writes: it appears that Nalcor took a study that estimated the energy
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Hebron, the Lower Churchill and Local Benefits #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Apparently, this whole Hebron work thing is much ado about nothing. Premier Kathy Dunderdale spent some time Monday afternoon chatting with On the Go’s Ted Blades about a recent decision by Kiewit to take a pass bidding on a second topsides module for the Hebron project. Labour was tight. The
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Muskrat Falls: more pesky details #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Tom Adams’ blog post is attracting much attention in Newfoundland and Labrador on Monday. No surprise in that, given that Adams’ did some calculations of water flows and came to the conclusion that for at least part of the year, Muskrat Falls wouldn’t be able to meet its commitments to
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Nalcor will have problems supplying MF power to Nova Scotia? #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Energy analyst Tom Adams has an interesting observation on why Nalcor and Emera are having a hard time finishing their agreement. Adams believes that a detailed analysis of Muskrat Falls generating capacity and electricity demand will create a situation where “Nova Scotia gets nothing or close to nothing when customers
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Cost over-runs: Manitoba #nlpoli
Want to know how far off cost estimates can be for a project like Muskrat Falls? Look no further than Manitoba where the same people who reviewing Muskrat falls for the public utilities board are in spot of bother over plans and costs and what consumers will wind up getting
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Muskrat Surprise! #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Paying attention pays its rewards. On Saturday, The Telegram’s Russell Wangersky showed the benefit of paying attention to the fine print if you want to understand how far off Nalcor and Wade Locke are when they try and conjure up a price per kilowatt hour for Muskrat Falls electricity. You
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Bad Sign 2: Muskrat Falls financials #nlpoli #cdnpoli
The Telegram’s Russell Wangersky dissects Nalcor’s claim for Muskrat Falls electricity costs in the Saturday paper. It’s simple. It’s concise. And, most importantly, you can understand it without being a math whiz. What you see are the holes in Nalcor’s submission to the public utilities board. You can also see
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The old nothing could be further from the truth ploy #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Ed Martin from Nalcor and Chris Huskilson from Emera held a news conference in St. John’s on Friday to announce that they will not have a deal on Muskrat Falls finished by the January 31 deadline. They issued a short, joint statement in addition to holding a news conference. Ed
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Hebron work leaving the province? #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Via CBC: Minister Jerome Kennedy said Kiewit won’t do some key Hebron work, worth $75 to 100 million, at Marystown and it may have to be done elsewhere. Apparently Kennedy and Premier Kathy Dunderdale met with Kiewit officials last week. Interestingly enough, while they were there, the Premier’s communications director
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Former Tory fin min asks more Muskrat questions #nlpoli
Peckford-era finance minister Dr. John Collins has another letter to the editor in the Telegram questioning Muskrat Falls. The continued problem with Nalcor’s (and government’s) decision to date respecting the project’s rationale and validity thus remains painfully obvious. The basis question is not whether Nalcor is wrong in postulating Muskrat’s
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Wading through Locke on Muskrat (Part 3) #nlpoli #cdnpoli
[continued from Part 2] Debt One of the issues Wade Locke set out to address was the impact Muskrat Falls would have on public debt. For some other information on Muskrat Falls and public debt, check this earlier post. Slide 43 is a table of debt servicing amounts based on
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Kremlinology 37: United in Differences
As the Newfoundland and Labrador news release noted, the energy ministers from the four Atlantic provinces got together on Monday for a gab session. Those who stood waiting for Jerome!’s latest tweet on Muskrat now know where The Oracle had been all day. In Prince Edward Island, they issued their
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