Such poor form...deregulate the offshore? Seems like a bad idea

Impact Assessment Agency seeking public comments until April 30, 2020, to inform development of Ministerial Regulatory Proposal to Designate Offshore Exploratory Drilling East of NL for Exclusion under the Impact Assessment Act.
https://t.co/roVF3vEmAt#nlpoli #nspoli #cdnpoli

— Jason R. Bull (@JasonRBull) April 19, 2020

Towards an Atlantic-wide deregulated electricity sector. The story of NL Power & NS Power

From 'The energy anti-trust handbook' via google books 

Event Proceedings

Plugging in Atlantic Canada: AIMS/ECANS first major conference on electricity

How will competition, deregulation and privatization in the continental electricity market affect us?

Dated: 27 Oct 2000 

THE ATLANTICA POWER MARKET: A Plan for Joint Action GORDON L. WEIL The AIMS Atlantica Papers #1

Atlantica Ideas Matter 01 JM-Final 02

Event Proceedings

AIMS/ECANS Second Electricity Conference

Plugging in the International Northeast : A Canada-US Dialogue on solving this region’s electricity challenges

Dated: 12 Nov 2003

Atlantic Canada and the U.S. Electricity Market: Projects and Perspectives Gordon L. Weil Halifax, Nova Scotia October 2015 http://www.aims.ca/site/media/aims/ACUSelectric.pdf


Gas Opportunities for Atlantic Canada Andrew Pickford
http://www.atlanticaenergy.org/uploads/file/publications/Gas%20Opportunities%20for%20Atlantic%20Canada.pdf

N.S. review board opens up energy market competition March 25, 2016

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/1351900-n.s.-review-board-opens-up-energy-market-competition

NAFTA and proportionality: A devil's bargain

BY

GORDON LAXER

| OCTOBER 6, 2015
http://rabble.ca/news/2015/10/nafta-and-proportionality-devils-bargain


Gas Opportunities for Atlantic Canada Andrew Pickford
http://www.atlanticaenergy.org/uploads/file/publications/Gas%20Opportunities%20for%20Atlantic%20Canada.pdf

For the next piece...Historical timeline of deregulation in modern NL, the players involved and where they were at specific points along the path towards deregulation of each specific sector. NL Power & NS Power. Connections of private interests to both main political parties. Offshore tax havens. More on price fixing and hamstringing regulators. Pipelines. Natural Gas. Water Markets...

The pipeline deal for 60 trillion cubic feet of natural gas offshore NL aka 'Muskrat Falls' #nlpoli #cdnpoli

The wet dream of NL Inc. for the past 15 years or so years has been to put in a natural gas export pipeline from the offshore oil & gas fields of eastern Newfoundland to points west. The natural gas pipeline system which extends up into Nova Scotia from the United States has been eyed greedily by both liberal & conservative governments in the past two decades, but no one has been able to make a deal happen for the gas offshore NL, to get the deal 'just right'. To fit all the pieces together and bring it home for private shareholders and institutional investors in not only canada's but the world's largest energy companies took alot of doing. It appears that it has potentially involved the trading off of public assets, those being not only the assets involved in the muskrats falls hydro electric dam and the related transmission infrastructure but indeed the people of NL's publicly owned utility NL Hydro.

The offshore gas fields in NL are reported to contain upwards of 60 Trillion cubic feet of natural gas, yes that's trillions with a T (http://newenergynl.ca/2011/06/21/20110621-2/ & http://www.northernlightsottawa.com/presentations/friday/PaulBarnes_CAPP_EDMS-202549-v1-Northern_Lights_presentation_February_2012.pdf).

Now, as a forester / farmer I don't pretend to know much about the technical aspects of the oil & gas sector but what I do know is it has the richest companies in the world operating within its folds, and those same companies are operating within my province on resources that are at least in part governed by the rules within our jurisdiction. With all that money comes influence and an ability to make things go your way. Complicit governments writing enabling legislation, so these massive corporations can operate outside the oversight of democratically elected legislative representatives is a major issue around the world. Here in NL recent legislation such as the energy corporation act of 2007 and its sections 5.4-5 are a big part of the problem, as is bill 29 and section 31 of its parent bill of 2002.

My research for the past decade has been focused on the issues around water privatization and hydro electric dams, and most recently has moved onto include the links those two issues have to hydraulic fracturing expansion in northeastern BC. I followed the water issue as a stand alone issue locally starting in 2003 through to the expropriation in 2009 of abitibi bowaters assets in central NL. There were concerns being raised at the time by a number of groups around the water rights granted by the harper administration under nafta where water rights appeared to be both granted and taken all in one swoop. Most of this kerfuffle is explained in the last post on this blog.

What I failed to recognize when I last posted was the issue of a gas pipeline system for the natural gas offshore NL, and the potential for massive profits off that resource. Once I saw that it didn't take long to find the studies left behind by the past liberal government for an offshore pipeline system and to begin to make the connections to the investors and executives piling up around the deal emera has with nalcor for the muskrat falls project to see there is way more to this deal than met the eye. Water is still a key piece but not for local NL players, they are just being used to set it up for the larger deal for Canadian water. Going on underneath is the deal with petronas in BC for the montney shale gas expansion and Montney Water Project, which is the real prize for the current crowd of corporate elite pulling our democracies strings.

What I've discovered appears to point to a rather large private investment in a pipeline expansion project by groups like exxon mobil, spectra energy, encana and snc-lavalin to get at the gas offshore NL under the guise of a hydro-electric & transmission deal built by the very people who appear to have been in the background helping put together the pipeline plan. Not all parties may be aware of all the workings inside the deal, but certainly some must know what is being sold, and what is being purchased as multi-billion dollar contracts are signed for the publicly administered natural resource wealth belonging to the good people of Newfoundland & Labrador.

The issue of water privatization is certainly in the background for local brokers when they eye the trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, but the initial profit from the gas resource is merely the driving force for the greed and underhandedness witnessed around the whole muskrat falls debacle. The real treasure is undoubtedly the water for those who have the security of billions in the bank and all the power one could imagine that wealth brings, for those amongst us who control the water control the fate of humanity. We only need look to the conflicts in the middle east and dig a little to find water issues being a major underlying factor in most of the disputes, though you will not find many people or reports discussing it...its simply too hot a topic.

My issue with what I see happening in NL around this pipeline deal is that Canadian water is being threatened with privatization. This threat is coming from the 'investor-state dispute settlement' mechanisms built into the new free trade deals being shoved down our throats, as well as the legislation which may have been abused under the guise of democratically elected government to help enable that privatization using greed and belief in 'the market' as both motivating factor and justification. Its not good enough.

If we are to progress as a species and continue forward together through the challenges we will face in the future whether that be a rapidly warming & volatile climate, ocean acidification, desertification, failing agriculture systems etc. we must go forward together, not separated by greed and fear.


More to come...but while you wait here are a couple links...

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/1133470-pieridae-inks-35-billion-deal-for-gas-from-goldboro-lng

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/1166323-lng-plan-would-use-pipeline

https://www.encana.com/news-stories/news-releases/details.html?release=615129

http://boereport.com/oil-and-gas-news-headlines/news/exxonmobil-announces-hebron-oil-project-to-proceed-off-canadas-east-coast/

http://www.theogm.com/2011/06/19/the-journey-to-hebron/

http://www.powerinourhands.ca/pdf/NaturalGas.pdf 

http://www.engr.mun.ca/~sbruneau/research/energy/SB2.pdf 

http://www.offshore-mag.com/articles/print/volume-61/issue-8/news/offshore-canada-newfoundland-solving-gas-transport-iceberg-management-challenges.html

Update April 7th, 2014

Husky Energy Inc eyes Atlantic Canada LNG project to export to Europe, Indonesia 

(http://business.financialpost.com/2014/04/03/husky-energy-inc-eyes-atlantic-canada-lng-project-to-export-to-europe-indonesia/?__lsa=9929-a3af)


Updated insight 01.21.2018 re: 'pipeline load'

Dams for Dilbit: How Canada’s New Hydro Dams Will Power Oil Pipelines

By James Wilt • Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - 11:50 https://www.desmog.ca/2018/01/10/dams-dilbit-how-canada-s-new-hydro-dams-will-power-oil-pipelines?

Update insight..10.10.2018 re: 'power from shore'
Equinor flips a switch on Johan Sverdrup
Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Kjell-Børge Freiberg, on Tuesday officially opened the power-from-shore solution, which will provide the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea with electricity for more than 50 years. https://www.offshoreenergytoday.com/equinor-flips-a-switch-on-johan-sverdrup/

https://www.equinor.com/en/news/2018-10-09-johan-sverdrup-powered-shore.html

update insight...10.10.2019. https://www.imaginethepotential.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Presentation-2018-10-24-David-Campbell_public.pdf
NOIA now reporting 190+ trillion cubic feet of natural gas offshore.


updated from tweet -> https://twitter.com/Jim_M_Keating/status/1252254052525780992

Notes for next piece
Outside of the offshore gas is the gas onshore in NL, the private water rights that may be assumed by emera and perhaps even Kruger Energy for their Deer Lake Power dam on Junction Brook. The water behind that dam (Grand Lake) holds alot of water and the watershed includes a large portion of the surface area of western NL.

Nova Scotia gas export deals for $35 billion dollar contracts cannot be linked to private water as has been done in BC on williston lake. We cannot get out of $35 billion dollar contracts by paying out, remember Harper has stated it would be the responsibility of provinces in the future (via the abitibi settlement). There is substantial risk inside this deal and it needs complete review before any more contracts are signed.

Believe it or not there is also a plan for atlantic-wide electricity deregulation inside this whole big mess which will involve both NL Power (Fortis) & NS Power (Emera) that could have inside of it another layer of the offshore natural gas deal for gas distribution on the island. Interesting that Fortis has not showed itself up to this point in the 'Muskrat Falls' fiasco, though they are sitting on CH Hudson in New York where the HVDC line from Quebec plugs in. Its owned by Balckstone but was originally a douglas capital / TDI line when NALCOR signed on with with them in 2011. GDFSuezo bought ventus wind who have a tremendous amount of canadian wind under permit, but as yet unbuilt. Ventus were the original partners with the metis in labrador for a 5000W wind farm....oh so interesting. Riverbank power and pumped hydro is also very interesting and will be explored in future posts.

The privatization of Canadian water is occurring right under our noses #cdnwater #nlpoli #bcpoli #cdnpoli

In the years leading up to Harper's majority the neo-con boys were busy. They were busy setting up contracts, trade deals, pipelines, transmission systems, water legislation, electorates & premierships.

This has occurred in the jurisdictions where water and electricity resources are available to export to the United States. Mainly NL, Que, BC & AB but that is not to say there hasn't been equal pressure put on other provinces resources and politicians.

In NL, the situation started with a Hydro deal in '98 which allowed the establishment of four private dams. The two dams of concern related to the Canadian water privatization threat are Star Lake and Rattle Brook. There was a public outcry and a halt was ordered to the establishment of private hydro facilities, but the two facilities had already been put in place.  http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/1998/exec/0831n01.htm

Between '01 & '03 legislation around these two dams was altered, and in between the water act was created replacing a host of outdated legislation. The wording in the new legislation refers to water right & licences as opposed to water leases & permits and this is where the process towards privatizing water, begun in '98 and continued under Danny Williams' administration really starts to accelerate. A similar process of privatization is currently being repeated in the proposed BC water act thanks perhaps to our 'enabling legislation' and the precedent setting case involving Harper and the Abitibi expropriation under NAFTA. In BC, Gwyn Morgan and the Christie Clarke Liberal government are working hard for their corporate friends in regard to water privatization, and what a prize that'll be for the corporate sector if it all goes through.  http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/ge-and-privatization-water

The Star Lake facility was expropriated in '09 along with the rest of ABH's assets on the Island by the Williams administration. Around that time EMERA first bought into Algonquin Utilities, which not coincidentally runs the Rattle Brook run of river hydro facility. Local concern went to the people impacted as well as the issues of contamination around the millsite but few picked up on the water issues it raised, except a lawyer representing the Council of Canadians.

Shortly after Williams expropriation of Abitibi (ABH)'s assets on the Island Harper paid out $130 million to ABH for Williams actions and effectively granted private water rights to ABH on the Star Lake facility according to the Council. Up to that point there had only been a permit/lease arrangement, but with newly amended legislation and the NAFTA ruling referring to water 'rights', the Rattle Brook facility may be considered 'private' with a licence and 'water rights' associated with it.

Williams signed the EMERA term sheet a few days before stepping down on Dec. 3, 2010. On Dec. 17 (two weeks to the day after his resignation came into effect) there was a large purchase of shares in EMERA (7.5 million with a value around 1/4 billion), and EMERA bought again into Algonquin. EMERA also received the go ahead on the purchase of Maine & Maritime Corporation (MAM) on the 16th which could have also contributed to the triggering of the large and rather anomalous share purchase http://www.emera.com/en/home/mediacentre/recentnews/2010/newsreleasedetails.aspx?SourceParams=reqid-1508712

The question all this raises....Is EMERA setting up in NL to establish a private water market in preparation for CETA? If the goings on in BC & AB are reflective of what is going on here in NL then the question needs to be asked now rather than later, before the deals are signed and sealed.

So, with the EMERA term sheet set to be signed shortly, is the future of Canadian water hanging in limbo? Lets hope not.

UPDATED
The latest development occurred just a couple days ago on April 10th, 2012 EMERA bought further into Algonquin on the verge of the term sheet being finalized.

AND AGAIN on July 31st 2012 they buy more into Algonquin -> Emera - News Release Details Emera Increases Investment in Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.. This is a key day as it is also the day Emera finalized the deal with NALCOR for the whole deal on the Maritime & Labrador-Island link / Muskrat Falls fiasco Emera Inc. and Nalcor Energy Finalize Agreements for the Development of Muskrat Falls

NO surprise by now but they again bought into Algonquin on Oct. 7th 2014. they just won't stop!!

The Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline Ownership:

• U.S.: LP Enbridge (U.S. Inc). (77.53%); Emera Inc. (12.92%); ExxonMobil Corporation (9.55%)
• Canada: Enbridge Inc. (77.53%); Emera Inc. (12.92%); ExxonMobil Corporation (9.55%)

Additional reading

http://www.algonquinpower.com/financial/reports/annrep99.pdf 10640 NL Ltd was registered in NL & shifted to NS. why is #'d company investing in a dam w ties to water privatization? Dec '98 ALQ acquired via 100% of outstanding shares of 10640 Newfoundland Ltd

The Telegram - Opinion - Letters to the editor. Nalcor not telling the truth Published on July 25, 2011

FINTIP

- July 25, 2011 at 12:32:37

Clouter is correct of course in asserting that wind, like any other source of power, can be stored. Methods include thermal (heat sink), compressed air, hydrogen, salt, and hydro-electric (including new stand-alone facilities using pumped storage and upgrading of existing plants through resevoir expansion). Efficencies of up to 99% are claimed for some of these technologies. Beyond wind there is solar, geo-thermal, wave, and waste (e.g. garbage and wood fibre). Retrofitting Holyrood to run on natural gas is a major opportunity, not only to lower production costs but to drastically reduce greenhouse gases. In addition to more efficient load levelling on the production side, there is demand side load levelling - the latter involves incentives for off peak consumption of power. Many homeowners and even some commercial operations can easily be persuaded to shift some of their energy intensive uses to non peak hours. There is also, as exists in other jurisdictions, the mandate obligating electrical utilities to compensate private producers of electricity for excess power fed into the grid. There is as yet a largely ignored opportunity to promote conservation at the home and consumer level using an almost insignifcant part of the investment required for Muskrat. Suffice it to say that we have a very staid, fixated, unimaginative, technologically challenged group of people leading our utilities and governments in this country and this province in particular. By bulldozing ahead with Muskrat and the Anglo-Saxon project, Newfoundland and Labrador is undermining its remaining legal challenge to the Upper Churchill contract. It is also destroying much of its leverage in dealing with Quebec and/or extracting maximum value from new markets once the Upper Churchill contract expires. And finally it is ignoring an opportunity to take advantage of new energy technologies and to establish this province as a leader in innovative power generation. A large part of the problem is that NALCOR operates as a closed shop. The process of evaluating and finding solutions to energy problems in this province needs to be opened to a much wider discussion and input from professionals and energy groups of all kinds. Only then can the consumer be assured that we are not assuming an enormous debt for a mega project that was unnecessary or unwise in the first place.

HE IS VERY CORRECT. SO CORRECT I'D VOTE HIM TO BE CHIEF OF nalcor RATHER THAN THE BLUNDERING SUITS RUNNING 'OUR COMPANY' NOW.

Fisheries Claim of Right: Community Linkages

From Ray Johnson and da byes over at Community Linkages...

Notice of Intent and Statement of Claim

TO: Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

I, ____________________ a Newfoundlander and Labradorian, do hereby state the
following:
WHEREAS, Canada has failed and abandoned their obligations under the Terms of
Union to effectively and responsibly manage and sustain our fisheries;
WHEREAS, the recreational fishery and the restrictions on my right to fish, is a
violation of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act because it does not uphold the rights of
citizens in Newfoundland and Labrador to participate in their culture and heritage;
WHEREAS, families and individuals have relied on the fishery for generations as a food
supply and major source of employment in Newfoundland and Labrador;
WHEREAS, fishing is a basic established right, a fundamental element to our society
and the well-being of our province, our rural communities and the future of our children;
WHEREAS, my culture and heritage depends on the fishery;
THEREFORE, let it be known that I have the right to be a steward of the fishery, and to
be included in any discussions around restructuring of the fishing industry, quotas, and
interests off Newfoundland and Labrador’s shores;
THEREFORE, I declare that under the principles of Magna Carta, I am entitled from my
descendants, a community of settlers, to declare fishing rights up to the 12-mile limit and
the first three miles from the high water mark be reserved for local use and the purposes
of our heritage, culture and the well being of our economy;
THEREFORE, let it be known that I have a public right to fish from the first three miles of
water for my personal consumption and the consumption of my family;
THEREFORE, let it be known that I claim hook and line as a sustainable fishing method;
THEREFORE, let it be known that no decisions, changes, or influences should be
carried out on the fish resources or the fishing industry in Newfoundland and Labrador,
without my consent or the consent of all Citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador;
THEREFORE, I request the Government of Canada, its Parliament and the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador recognize my claim and the importance the fishery has on
the historic, cultural, and socioeconomic significance to Newfoundland and Labrador.

I have mine ready sent already.

An interactive map of festivals from coast to coast this Summer. From The Independent.

This is a great resource for travelers and vendors this summer..

MAP: Summer Festivals 2011

Cod: Renewing a Bountiful Catch

Watch this and learn

http://www.curra.ca/features_cod_dvd.htm

Community Linkages Report Needs More Attention

This report written by the group Community Linkages certainly needs more airing out. It is well written, concise and could provide a good portion of the solution to the issues in our inshore fishery. It's a starting point that no politician or industry leader would take up simply because of the sheer size of the task. That is not good enough. More needs to done to stabilize the economies of our rural communities and ensure many more generations of Newfoundlanders can fully enjoy the true quality of life many outport people have come to appreciate and love.

Here's the interview with the gov't and industry dudes. Which side has rural Newfoundland in its heart?

Long awaited NL Fisheries Management MOU

Now's the time to stand up and make yourself heard Rural NL. This MOU is the nail in the coffin for a 500 year old way of living with the land & sea we all so dearly cherish.

Here's Jackman getting pulled apart by David Cochrane of the CBC

 http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Canada/NL/Web_Exclusive/1303113032/ID=1818322846

Newfoundland National Anthem

Kruger's new enterprise on the west coast

When Kruger shuts its doors in Corner Brook they have a few other plans up their sleeves. I wonder how this project fits into EMERA's transmission link?

Harry Manx - Take this Hammer

Canada dead last in freedom of information requests study

Democracy is almost dead in Canada apparently. Is this what we want our children to inherit? Time to wake up people, the suits are gettin' a bit too comfortable in their ivory towers.

Global warming is coming faster than we've been led to believe.

wow. that's scary. from this artical in USA today comes some not so good news. history in the making here folks, they don't release this kind of information everyday.

The first twitter revolution?

Tech savvy youth in Tunisia have carried out the first revolution using social media.

Spooks beware out there....you're not the only ones who get to say Boo! now.

This ain't the Niger Delta.

Someone needs to tell Danny Williams that.

He seems to be trying to put himself in league with the likes of Shell Oil and their ilk. Well, he should take another look around and perhaps consider who he's dealing with. We're the same ones the Americans hired to go over to Afghanistan and try and talk some sense into the most hardened fighters in the world. That's not an easy job, and I certainly don't see any Nigerian battle groups there (if you get my point).

Trying to run our province like a third-world country has gotten him in over his head. The media cannot be controlled (completely), you cannot go into peoples houses and threaten them (without it coming out in the media), there's no militia to kick down doors and carry out extra-judicial killings (yet), no mob for hire to do false flag riots so martial law can be induced (unless Danny and his hockey buddies wanna start some shit on George with da fishin' and farmin' boys).

Our province is no longer for sale to the highest bidder (from Quebec or anywhere else). It's time the suits in St. John's get that point, and start looking out for the interests of our people like we elected them to do. They can learn that the easy way or the hard way. It is still their decision.

The Chinese buy in, the Americans buy them out, we lose. End of story.

Here is what happens to ex-politicians once they leave our most trusted office of premier.

From the Montreal Gazette this morning.

Cliffs pays $4.9B for iron ore miner

Tobin heads the company that's dealing with the Chinese on our resources and then turns around and sells out to the Americans.

He couldn't sell our water, so he went elsewhere and is now selling our metal resources. Makes sense, I guess.

Seriously, that's messed up.

Brad Cabana has got a pair

Well.

At least we know someone has a pair.

Might be THE game-changer we need around here. Hope so.

No local political ties, from out west with NL roots.

What will come from this? Stay tuned.

A Few Quotes On Facts (or some such nonsense)

Facts and truth really don't have much to do with each other
- William Faulkner

The truth is more important than the facts
- Frank Lloyd Wright

Simple people... are very quick to see the live facts which are going on about them
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

The facts of life are that a child who has seen war cannot be compared with a child who doesn't know what war is except from television
- Sophia Loren

Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires
- Bertrand Russell

The theory that can absorb the greatest number of facts, and persist in doing so, generation after generation, through all changes of opinion and detail, is the one that must rule all observation
- Adam Smith

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts
- Abraham Lincoln

If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts
- Albert Einstein