Guest Post by PlanetNL
PlanetNL44: Holyrood Air Pollutants Surprisingly
Low
Need for Pollution Abatement Equipment Was Another
Muskrat Fraud
They were all untrue.
This post sums them all up with particular emphasis on the topic of pollutant emissions, a problem that had ceased to exist. Not that Government or Nalcor could ever let something as simple as the facts stand in their way of building Muskrat.
“The Provincial Government, through NLH (Hydro),
has investigated the long-term options to address Holyrood emissions and
decided to replace Holyrood generation with electricity from the Lower
Churchill through a transmission link to the Island”.
Thus ran the 2007 energy plan
of the Danny Williams Administration.
The die was cast for energy
policy in NL. It meant Gull Island, Muskrat Falls or bust!
In that pursuit for more than a
decade, deception, half-truths, outright lies and delusion all played a role in
the sanction and construction of Muskrat Falls. Integral to the decision, was
the disparagement of the Holyrood Thermal Generating Station (HTGS).
Guest Post by PlanetNL
PlanetNL43: Assessing the Holyrood
Life Extension Report
Dispelling Lies and Half Truths
On March 31, NL Hydro provided the Public Utilities Board with a consultant report assessing the Holyrood plant with a focus on continuing to use it for potentially decades more as a backup facility in the event of a major loss of power to the Island grid. The report considers just one of several options being considered in a major Reliability Assessment hearing before the PUB started in 2018 and seems as though it may never conclude.
The new report provides a favorable review of the suitability of the plant, maintained as
a backup facility. To what should be no
one’s surprise, the plant is not in an awful and unreliable condition and way
past its prime. It just needs what
should be considered ordinary upkeep for any industrial facility.
What we don’t know, however, is what exactly Hydro asked the consultant to study or if the report accurately describes the way the Holyrood plant must be used to provide an acceptable level of utility reliability. It appears Hydro has guided their consultant to the wrong scenario.
Finance Minister Siobhan Coady delivered the 2022-23 Provincial Budget last week, enshrouded in the kind of rhetoric that suggests the Government is prudently managing our finances.
Let’s take a look at the 2022-23 Budget Estimates to see
if what she is selling is in line with the reality that the PERT Report described only one year ago.
PERT stated: “The Government of Newfoundland and
Labrador is facing an unsustainable fiscal situation that requires immediate
action. Spending is out of control and the Provincial Government is paying out
far more than its revenue allows…This untenable situation must be addressed.” The
Report also noted that “Cash deficits in the last five years have averaged $1.9
billion annually.” (P.10)
If, as Minister Coady suggests, she is close to Budget balance, how did Moya Greene get her stark analysis so wrong?
NL may have dodged one offshore bullet, but well-informed sources in the Nation’s capital advise that the public were given only one part of the story.
The Federal Cabinet has agreed, over objections
from Environment Minister Steven Guibeault, to allow Bay du Nord to proceed. But
so far unannounced is that Ottawa has extracted from Premier Andrew Furey an agreement
that in return, no other offshore oil development licenses will be issued. Ottawa
does not want to be seen doing the killing alone.
This compromise was the cost of the Fed’s $2
billion loan for “rate mitigation”. A more mature, savvy, politician would have
told Ottawa to stuff it. Furey has agreed to the price.
The “noise” that you are hearing from local media,
over the past few days, revolves around climate friendly wind power and hydrogen.
What you are hearing is a structured campaign giving the impression that your future is connected with these energy sources rather than oil – though the globe needs oil and we have some of the lowest carbon emitting stuff. It is a more important industry than many people, including our own, fully understand.
Guest Post by Cabot Martin
Welcome, perhaps, to the age of Climate Change Sanity?
My words, I fear, will not match danger of the hour or the honour of filling the highly regarded Uncle Gnarley Monday morning slot. Only last night, I was on the phone with the man himself, dodging and weaseling, trying to get out of it.
But Uncle Gnarley, with his big white beard and all, is not to be trifled with and he soon laid down the law –
“How can I run a Blog if you are going to get on like that, changing your mind at the last minute?” he asked sternly, after raining down fire and brimstone, or at least the threat of such.
So I, whimpering , slung off in my chastised state to ponder with nothing more than a few fragments of an idea to work on.
Of course, my present confused condition is totally Bay de Nord induced.