Liberal natural resources critic says proposal excludes Labrador energy requirements
CLIFF WELLS
Transcontinental Media—Corner Brook
Tom Marshall says west coast residents are big winners in the energy plan announced by the province Tuesday.
The finance minister and Tory legislature member for Humber East said the transmission line from the Lower Churchill project to the island portion of the province is good news, as is the Petroleum Exploration Enhancement Program, otherwise known as PEEP, a $5-million pot of money for seismic work on the west coast.
“That money will be provided by the new energy corporation,” Marshall said.
“In turn,” he said, “the energy corporation will obtain equity in those exploration companies, if it’s in the interests of the province to do so.
“The other thing I think is very important for the whole province, of course, is there’s a plan there to take the revenue from the non-renewable resources and using the revenues, which are finite and time-limited, to develop the renewable resources,” Marshall said, noting that the renewable resource economy is going to be powered by “sustainable, green energy sources like hydro and wind.”
Marshall said that allows future generations to benefit from the non-renewable resources, rather than hogging the benefits for the present generation.
He said the clean, renewable power will be a great resource for Newfoundlanders many years from now.
Natural Resources Minister Kathy Dunderdale agrees the PEEP program is a great boost for the province’s west coast, but so is the transmission line that will be built.
“One of the most exciting pieces for the west coast is once the Lower Churchill is sanctioned, we’ll do a transmission link from Labrador to the island part of the province,” Dunderdale said.
“That will travel down the west coast and come east. Depending on what transmission route we use for exporting our surplus power, it might go west as well, so (there are) exciting opportunities for the west coast of the province.
“Bringing electricity from Labrador, but having access to the power to build industry and all the benefits that will spin out of the construction of the transmission line down the west coast and across the province, there’s tremendous opportunities for the west coast,” Dunderdale said.
But Yvonne Jones, Liberal natural resources critic and legislature member for Cartwright-L’Anse au Clair, says the proposed new energy direction for the province appears to have excluded the energy requirements of Labrador and that is less than acceptable.
One of the stated policy actions of the document, “Focusing our Energy,” is to build a transmission line from Labrador to the island portion of the province by 2015.
Jones pointed to a number of large-scale projects in Labrador that would benefit from having a less expensive source of energy.
Several of these, she noted, include the military base at Happy Valley-Goose Bay, which is run by diesel power and the mine at Voisey’s Bay which functions with five diesel generators.
She said other anticipated projects, such as the uranium project in Postville and the two mineral finds in Labrador West, will require a major amount of energy to operate.
“While there are several long-term plans to deal with energy issues on the island, such as replacing the Holyrood generating station with a cleaner energy source through this transmission link, the document does not outline how Labrador will benefit from this investment,” Jones said.
“When the consultations for this plan took place,” she said, “Labradorians made it clear that they wanted to see real benefits, such as cheaper and available sources of power.
“This plan is a disappointment in that there are no such commitments to address this serious consumer, economic and regional development issues".
