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
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The Sir Robert Bond Papers: No obligation to take electricity: Emera CEO #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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Beyond the “clutches of Quebec” #nlpoli
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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Hebron Complications #nlpoli
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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Tom Johnson is Redundant #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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Not with a bang, but a whimper #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
Continue readingPressing Politics: Pressing Politics Stars in House of Assembly, Tories Elicit a Warning from Dean MacDonald
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 →
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Perspective #nlpoli
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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A closed market #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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Anticlimax #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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Revenue Streams and Not-so-Captive Markets #nlpoli
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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Revenue Streams: Sure Thing edition #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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: $#*! the Premier says: PUB review edition #nlpoli
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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: $#*! Jerome Says: federal loan guarantee not firmly in place yet #nlpoli
In 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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Still Ready for a Better Tomorrow #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
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Government Delaying Muskrat Falls Sanction: Kennedy #nlpoli
“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.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Why False Beliefs Persist #nlpoli
If the Brothers Grimm were alive today in Newfoundland and Labrador, they’d be politicians. That’s because so much of politics these days is about fairy tales. To be fair this isn’t a new phenomenon, it’s just that since 2003, the chief purveyors of fairy tales – the nationalists – have
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Paying Attention to Details #nlpoli
Gabriella Sabau is an economics professor at Memorial University’s Grenfell campus out in Corner Brook. Sabau thinks Muskrat Falls is wonderful idea for three reasons. For one thing, it’s green. For another thing, the electricity rates for consumers are supposedly low. And for a third thing, "there will eventually be
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Prisoners of Their Own Delusions #nlpoli
Another part of the Premier’s Office assault on reality Monday was a puff piece by Paul McLeod in the Chronicle Herald on Kathy Dunderdale. In some respects, the timing is a coincidence but the thing has been in the works since last month, at l…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Jerome’s Grim Fairy Tale #nlpoli
Last week, some people wondered if Premier Kathy Dunderdale was out of the loop on negotiations over a federal loan guarantee when she seemed to say she did not know anything about an announcement in Labrador. Some other people wondered if perhaps she…
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