Losing a way of life for profits

Maurice E. Adams

- June 15, 2012 at 13:04:45

While we (our generation) have already well paid for the mistakes of the Upper Churchill.......... While we ourselves may not be around to benefit from the return in 2041 of the Upper Churchill.......... IN NO WAY should we be so docile, so accepting and so short-sighted as to also impose the mistakes of the Upper Churchill, and to deny (past 2041) the benefits of the Upper Churchill from our children and grandchildren........ But that is exactly what WE do if we allow this government, and our proxy government (Nalcor), to impose this UNNEEDED, IRRATIONAL Muskrat Falls project on us..........By 2041, while Muskrat Falls is still being paid off, NL ratepayers get 5,400 MW (7 times as much power as Muskrat Falls generates) back from our already existing, fully paid for, unencumbered Churchill Falls generating plant --- power that is near-zero in cost --- 2/10ths of 1 cent per KWh (more than 100 cheaper than Muskrat Falls)............... Yet, for 25 years past that date, until 2067 (and in addition to the $8 BILLION we will have paid for Muskrat Falls between now and 2041), our children and grandchildren will have to pay a further $6 BILLION in debt servicing and operating costs for 40 cent/KWh power from Muskrat Falls (all while near-zero cost Upper Churchill power is available)....... Now, while that may make sense for those who stand to benefit from having our children and grandchildren fork over BILLIONS in unnecessary electricity bills, it makes no sense to me......... I for one, have no desire to mortgage my children and my grand-children's future and to have them pay dearly, to deny them what I was denied, the rightful benefit of our own resources ---- and to add insult to injury ---- to have them pay BILLIONS past 2041 ----------- "WHY?" ----- SO THAT I CAN HAVE A LITTLE CHEAPER POWER BETWEEN 2017 AND 2027 (for the 1st decade of a locked-in, 'take or pay', 50 year contract)....... We get slightly lower rates in the first decade, while our children and grand-children pay dearly for the next 4 decades ---- all while this time it is "WE" (not Quebec) that will be denying them their rightful benefit, post-2041, of Upper Churchill power.

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  John Smith

  - June 15, 2012 at 17:09:10

  maurice...2041 is 30 years away...we will be in a power deficit by 2017, and in dire straits by 2020. While you might think we can wait around for 30 years, those who have experience in the industry, people whom I trust, people who are paid to provide us with electricity, people who are educated, and have dedicated their entire lives to this industry are telling us we cannot wait. I choose to trust what they say maurice...not what you pull out of thin air. I have heard many say that we will never see a kilowatt of power from the upper churchill here on this island, because it will always be better to continue to sell it onto the grid, makes much more fiscal sense. We need to develop muskrat for our own use, in Labrador, and on the island, we will be able to sell the power from Gull island and th UC. Oh and how will this projecty cost 8 billion, with Emera kicking in nearly 2 billion of the overall cost? But I guess you need to inflate your bogus numbers whenever you can. You call the project unneeded and irrational...yet you can't say why. I have read the material on the project and I think it's a good one. I have no axe to grind...I'm no genius, but I know we will need more power, and I can see that paying into our own resource, getting off middle east oil, stableizing rates, ridding ourselves of pollution, getting a connection to the mainland so we can persue alternatives, and many other benefits. Yet you can't say why it's so bad. Of course you can make up ficticious numbers...but we can all do that. Please God this project will be sactioned, and the lunatic fringe will give it a rest...

David

- June 15, 2012 at 10:12:25

Last week, the 'way of life' being lost was at the feet of EI reform. Today, our 'way of life' is a victim of the evils of companies and their quest for profit. It's pretty clear ---- Newfoundlanders just want a "Baby Bonus" economy, renamed the "Person Bonus".

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William Daniels

- June 15, 2012 at 09:56:16

Time for some investigation into some of the shady business deals going on in NL.

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Maurice E. Adams

- June 15, 2012 at 09:54:30

For year 2011, our demand was again BELOW (1%) our 10-year average of 1,558 MW (and our EXISTING INSTALLED 'NET' CAPACITY is 1,958 MW)............ So we already have more than 400 MW UNUSED (and Vale, at capacity, will only need 4.5 % of our 'already existing net capacity)............ In 2011, Nalcor "spilled" (wasted) the energy equivalent of 694 GWh (worth about $80 million) over the island's existing hydro sites. ----------- Why then do we need power that Nalcor says will cost us $14.5 billion over 50 years? ............ To get voter/ratepayer support Nalcor is shifting Muskrat costs from us to our grandchildren, who will pay 20 times more per KWh 50 years from now so that we will pay less in the first 10 years.......... If Muskrat Falls was properly costed, our grandchildren would only pay about 2 (not 40) cents per KWh for Muskrat power. ........."WE" are mortgaging their future ----- for power that WE DO NOT NEED........ The question is:---- "WHY?"

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Jerome

- June 15, 2012 at 09:17:56

It couldn't have been summed up more succinctly Maurice.

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John Smith

- June 15, 2012 at 09:06:40

Muskrat falls power will not cost between 25-40 cents, mines will not pay 2-3 cents. Every power producing province has power for sale on the spot market. Ontario just finished one of the largest hydro projects on the Niagra river costing 2 billion dollars.The bottom line to this deal is that both Labrador and the island need power. We don't live in Ontario. We need to develop our own supply. While it would be nice to leave all the rivers, and the ground, and the sea, and the air pristene and untouched, there are many here who want jobs and prosperity, to develop our own resources for our own people. This river could be developed for the 500,000 of us who live in this province, or we could leave it for the 200 people who live along the river and like to use it for trouting. As far as the seals go the populations are exploding, and will soon need to be culled. Both Max and Maurice must think electricity grows on trees. What do they think when they turn on their computers to write this crap? That we can continue to pay saudi arabia 200 million a year for oil for a polluting plant in Holyrood...so a few people can go trouting on a river that already has a large hydro project on it? Give me a break. Stagnation, poverty, backward thinking...that is what Maurice stands for...

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Maurice E. Adams

- June 15, 2012 at 08:33:46

Muskrat Falls power costs between 25-40 cents and Labrador mining companies want power at 2-3 cents per KWh. Ontario now has more than double the output of Muskrat power for sale and they are reducing large industrial rates in the north by 30% (down from 5.5 cents to 3.8 cents/KWh)....... Quebec (right over the fence from Labrador's mining companies) have many times more than Muskrat Falls power to sell ----- and again, at pennies per KWh........ If Labrador's mining companies want Muskrat power, they want it for nothing (and at our cost).

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