WAITING, WAITING – for Bay du Nord Sanity to Break Out

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. 

BAY DU NORD: AN OPPORTUNISTIC PRIME MINISTER WITH A VICIOUS AGENDA

No matter which side of the issue you find yourself, one thing is clear: there has never been an occasion when the Government of Canada has told a Province to shut down a critical part of its economy, as the Prime Minister Trudeau is attempting, in the case of the offshore oil industry.

An arbitrary 40-day extentsion to the Bay du Nord decsion and a 90-day freeze on new land sales, the the Prime Minister has put a gun to Premier Andrew Furey's head. Furey has neither chastised the PM for his insult, admonished the GoC’s discard of the Atlantic Accord, or asserted our interests. The whole spectacle constitutes a new low point in Canadian and NL politics.

The public needs to be aware of how they are being undercut.

BAY DU NORD: TURNING GOOD NEWS INTO DISBELIEF

Guest Post by Agent 13

The decision by Equinor (formerly Statoil of Norway) and Husky Oil to further assess the feasibility of developing the Bay du Nord oil field, located some 500 km offshore in the Flemish Pass region, represents good news for the province. Unfortunately, the Ball Government turned what was a good news day on July 26, 2018 into one of disappointment and disbelief.  

That the provincial government thinks it is solvent enough, knowledgeable enough, or savvy enough to deal with one of those major oil companies — with their mixed portfolio of huge capital assets — is a prolongation of the same pretense that facilitated the reckless decision to sanction the Muskrat Falls project.

PREMIER DAVIS: NOW IS NOT THE “RIGHT TIME”

Guest Post Written By "AGENT 13"

In June 2015, Premier Davis surprised most of the attendees at the NOIA Conference held in St. John’s. How? By stating that the provincial government and STATOIL may be only weeks away from finalizing the “term sheet” on the Bay du Nord field, a massive oil discovery located on the Flemish Pass.

At that time, the Premier indicated that the provincial government was on a path of negotiations to have the “term sheet” finalized, but that he would not commit to having it completed before the general election.

Then, last week Deputy Premier Steve Kent was asked about the status of the “term sheet” negotiations.  He stated his understanding it was very close and we would likely be hearing from the Minister of Natural Resources and the Premier in the coming weeks.

The question that must be asked is this: “Which party to the negotiations would benefit the most by finalizing the “term sheet” now, so close to a general election?”