Sue's Blog

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

The Price of HydroPower and Greed - Stop the Emera Deal!

The concept is that Nova Scotia is paying for it`s (free) power from Muskrat Falls by building a portion of a transmission line to their province.

This is a new idea - in that the end user (Emera) only pays for the cost of transmission but does not pay for the development to PRODUCE the power.

As electrical consumers our bill is based on the cost of production, transmission, distribution, and administration. We pay all the way for our power. In this deal a private energy company gets free power for the price of a transmission line. This proposed deal is the worst deal for the development of any part of the Lower Churchill since the Upper Churchill contract.

We are going to have a private Nova Scotian company own part of a power line that will supply power to Newfoundlanders from Labrador. We have the same company owning transmission lines within our province. The same company will receive power cheaper that we will get power ourselves. This is a lose lose lose lose proposition that will leave future generations hating and seething Nova Scotia in the same way we have done to Quebec.

The truth is we are losing our autonomy over power and transmission to a publicly traded Nova Scotian company. The price of taking off Holyrood would be to no longer pay ourselves but rather pay a publicly traded Nova Scotian company. Instead of paying Nalcor and Newfoundland Power - in addition we will now be paying a portion to a publicly traded Nova Scotian company for the power you and I consume in our homes, our businesses, and institutions? Every time a light switches on at the Confederation Building - Emera will be getting what? Did you know that you will be paying Emera for 50 years? Did you know your grandchildren and great grandchildren will be paying Emera for power? Masters of our Destiny? Sure if our destiny is failure. Masters in our Own House? Sure if we own the house to begin with.

I repeat without hesitation - that this is the worst giveaway in our history and moreover the worst funneling of cash to select millionaires.

Will the media in Newfoundland and Labrador please compare all the previous proposed projects for the development of the Lower Churchill to this project? Will the media please put up a side by side chart of costs, ownership, and potential revenues? This is getting too close to reality. It is time to fight.

Will the opposition please awake from their summer slumber and do something - anything - to stop this atrocious deal?

MHA's of Newfoundland and Labrador please do something to stop this! This is really a time to stand for something. This is the time to really make your voice count. This is no longer a game of partisan "go fish" it is a time to really represent the people. 


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