BARD ASKS IF MUSKRAT WAS STUPIDITY OR MORE

DAM ENQUIRY

As dam inquiry grinds along,

A dismal tale unfolds.

It follows on the lines

That the Gnarley Blog foretold.

With bullying and with bluster

A ‘bill of goods’ was sold.

Next we need to ask

Of fraud and theft untold?

Or is it plain stupidity

That left us debt to hold?

John Tuach 

October 30, 2018

TODD STANLEY TELLS MF INQUIRY MORE THAN HE INTENDED?

Former senior bureaucrat Todd Stanley was on the witness stand at the Muskrat Falls Inquiry last Monday, October 22. All witnesses at the Inquiry are interviewed by Commission Counsel, but his interview is noteworthy for several reasons.

Mr. Stanley's constituted the most frank appraisal yet of the relationship that existed between public servants and Nalcor senior executives when approval of the Muskrat Falls development was being whisked through the Government's  approval process.

A 17-year veteran (2001–2018) of the public service, Stanley rose to the position of Deputy Minister of Justice. He also served as Counsel to the Department of Natural Resources in the early days of the Muskrat Falls development.  

EXPLODING TRANSMISSION COSTS A TERRIBLE BLUNDER

Guest Post by PlanetNL

PlanetNL17: Exploding NL Transmission Costs A Terrible Blunder

While Muskrat Falls “the dam” is the object of much well-deserved scorn, the transmission line parts of the project may not be receiving all the critical attention they deserve.  This post examines cost recovery for the transmission assets on A C/kWh basis to demonstrate just how uneconomic they are.

Along the way, transmission costs in other jurisdictions are compared and the economics for importing or exporting energy over the Maritime Link are examined.  The conclusion is that Muskrat and the Maritime Link will do only thing well: deliver benefits to Nova Scotia.

BEYOND REDEMPTION: NALCOR MEDDLES WITH INDEPENDENT PANEL

Surely there must be some aspect of the Muskrat Falls affair in which there is evidence that the public interest mattered? Actually, no. So far, the facts only show a myopic determination to get the project sanctioned. At the Inquiry, even the fundamental integrity of Nalcor senior management is now under scrutiny.

On the witness stand, Derek Owen confirmed email evidence that Paul Harrington, MF Project Director, attempted to influence the conclusions of a process known as a Cold Eyes Review. The Independent Review Panel (IRP) struck for the purpose was chaired by Owen. It was an electrifying moment to be sure, possibly in part because we may be witnessing how unfettered executive privilege becomes empowered in an atmosphere of political bombast. The Commission has not even been able to find government-prepared analysis of the project. Former Premier Williams was asked by the Commissioner to help locate the work. 

The Harrington story is serious business. 

ED MARTIN TOLD ABOUT LOW-BALLED PROJECT COSTS

According to some observers, John Mallam, P. Eng. ought to have been — minimally — the Vice-President of Nalcor. He had served in senior roles at Hydro for most of his engineering career and rose to the position of Vice-President of the “regulated” subsidiary — utility speak for an entities under the control of the Public Utilities Board. He now serves on the Nalcor Board of Directors.

On the witness stand at the Muskrat Falls Inquiry, Mallam did not seem to fit the pliant mould that afforded cronyism to run rampant at Nalcor's senior level. Upon Nalcor’s creation, becoming the parent of Hydro and other subsidiaries holding provincial assets including Bull Arm, some senior executives were shown the door following Ed Martin's arrival. 

WILLIAMS TAKES WRONG PATH TO REDEMPTION

Danny Williams' inability to address the issues raised in the Grant Thornton Forensic Audit or answer for why the Commission of Inquiry is unable to find any detailed analysis performed by his Administration on the Muskrat Falls project seems not to have inspired in himself even a moment of reflection. Rather, he returned to the Inquiry evidently for his pound of flesh as early critics, David Vardy and Ron Penney, sat in front of the Commissioner, too.

Williams could be seen lurking on the sidelines, the former Premier still hoping that some of his dignity might yet be salvaged. He was waiting for his brother, Tommy, to land a few body blows on Vardy and Penney. He left disappointed. 

Observing Tommy brought to mind a well-known citation attributed to Napoleon, one I had hoped our legal counsel would be mindful of. A paraphrasing of the adage might read: never interrupt your adversary when he is in the process of self-destruction. 

NEEDLES IN HAYSTACKS AN ON-GOING ACCOUNTABILITY PROBLEM

Guest Post by PlanetNL

PlanetNL16: Needles in Haystacks, Symptoms of An Ongoing Accountability Problem

Participants and followers of the Muskrat Inquiry and earlier Muskrat reviews suffer simultaneously from information overload and yet a dearth of the vital information they are often seeking.  Nalcor and Government may have provided reams of materials but much of it is window dressing that gives little insight into key decision-making issues.  Take for example the Commissioner’s direct message to former Premier Williams that there is no evidence of anyone inside Government performing a critical review of Muskrat information supplied by Nalcor.

Too often it appears that the more important the issue, the less there is to be found.  In today’s post we revisit the issue of post-Muskrat rates being based on a two-tier declining rate scheme as a tiny but significant new nugget of information has been found about it.  Such a rate scheme would be a huge change in policy and one deserving of considerable study, yet it was buried in a mundane technical report with no basis of justification or analysis to defend it.

…. 

FIVE WORRYING TAKEAWAYS FROM DANNY WILLIAMS’ TESTIMONY

Former premier Danny Williams fired back at critics at the Muskrat Falls Inquiry calling their opposition to the project "reckless, irresponsible and shameful." Williams went so far as to term them “bottom feeders”. Even the Uncle Gnarley Blog earned his wrath referred to as “Uncle Nobby, Nutty or whatever”. Eventually, it seems, the Commissioner had heard enough. This is an excerpt: 

But Mr. Williams we are living in a democratic society so you being a politician in the past would know that there are people who are going to agree with you and people who are going to disagree with you. So people have a right, I assume, to disagree and while you may not like the tenor of their statements I suspect that, in a democracy, we have to give people the right to express their views. – Judge Richard LeBlanc

The Commissioner’s rebuke of Williams’ disparagement of Muskrat Falls’ critics was one noteworthy moment of Williams’ testimony last Monday and Tuesday, October 1 and 2.   

MISSED OPPORTUNITY: SCUTTLING OF THE 2002 GULL ISLAND FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT

Guest Post by Ron Penney
MISSED OPPORTUNITY: THE SCUTTLING OF THE 2002 FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF GULL ISLAND 

The full development of the Lower Churchill consists of two projects: Gull Island and the much smaller Muskrat Falls project. Gull Island is projected to be a 2250 megawatt project as compared to the Muskrat Fall’s 824 megawatts. Gull Island was always felt to be the far more economic project.

In 2002 a draft Framework Agreement was negotiated with Hydro Quebec to develop Gull Island. A link to that agreement is found here.

At the time, the then Chair of Newfoundland and Labrador, Dean MacDonald, and another Board member, Mark Dobbin, broke with the rest of the Board, and opposed the agreement. The then Leader of the Opposition, Danny Williams, became aware of the agreement and mounted a vigorous and ultimately successful campaign to scuttle the agreement.

This represented the most recent attempt to develop Gull Island and led directly to the Muskrat Falls debacle.

FIRST THOUGHTS OF MUSKRAT INQUIRY

When former Premier Danny Williams stood to be Sworn-In before Inquiry Commissioner, Judge Richard LeBlanc, last Monday, thoughts of Hans Christian Andersen’s memorable phrase – the Emperor has no clothes - was difficult to suppress. 

The moment had nothing to do with the witnessing of the diminutive former Premier being held to account. Rather, it was the recall of a phrase spoken by a child in the Danish novel who in his innocence described what he saw. “But he isn’t wearing anything at all”, the child exclaimed. It was the one truth that every one of the emperor’s subjects had been afraid to utter.

UNCLE GNARLEY BLOG LOOKS AT ITSELF AT SYMPOSIUM

Comments for Muskrat Falls Symposium sponsored by the Sociology Department of Memorial University organized under the leadership of Dr. Stephen Crocker:

I have been asked to discuss the Uncle Gnarley Blog and the impact it might have had on public understanding of the Muskrat Falls project. I will be careful not to perform an appraisal best left to others.

One might ask: why blog anyway? It’s a lot of work. One reason was that no clairvoyance was required to see that this project would end badly and those who saw it that way had an obligation to warn the public.  The business case could not stand up to scrutiny.   Those responsible needed to be held to account.