Proposal: Critics say sale of NB Power to Hydro-Québec will kill any chance of producing power in N.B. for export to U.S.

A1

QUENTIN CASEY
FOR THE TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

46 Comment(s)

FREDERICTON - If the Graham government's vision of building an energy hub wasn't dead already, the notion has just been read its last rites.

Enlarge Photo

Matthew Sherwood/Telegraph-Journal

‘Any sense that an energy hub was being built for Saint John is dead. The energy hub will move from Saint John, New Brunswick, to Saint-Jean, Quebec. And the fees collected off our grid will go to Quebec,’ says Opposition Leader David Alward.

That's the prognosis from a host of critics, from New Brunswick energy experts to the Conservative Opposition. Their main point: that the proposed sale of NB Power to Hydro-Québec will kill any chance of producing electricity in New Brunswick for export to American markets.

Handing over control of the local electrical grid to Quebec, they argue, will mean that cheap Quebec hydro power is much more likely to flow through the grid than New Brunswick-produced wind or nuclear power.

"The government has decided to give the keys to the electric utility away," says energy expert Yves Gagnon of Graham's proposed $5-billion deal to sell NB Power to Hydro-Québec.

"From my perspective it removes all possibility of developing future energy sources in New Brunswick," continued Gagnon, the K.C. Irving Chair in Sustainable Development at the Université de Moncton.

"All of those possibilities are gone with this deal."

According to Gagnon, Quebec's control of the electricity pipeline would completely kill the notion of local companies building new electrical plants and pumping the power through the local grid.

Conservative Opposition Leader David Alward agrees.

"Any sense that an energy hub was being built for Saint John is dead," said the Woodstock MLA.

"The energy hub will move from Saint John, New Brunswick, to Saint-Jean, Quebec. And the fees collected off our grid will go to Quebec."

But Premier Shawn Graham insists his vision of New Brunswick as a major energy player is still alive and well.

And he contends that Hydro-Québec's presence will actually help his cause.

"We've taken another step forward in developing the energy sector because a new player has entered into the New Brunswick marketplace," he said of the Quebec utility.

Still, it is clear Graham has been forced to re-jig his talking points to reflect a new reality.

That's because the Liberals' original energy hub vision is in tatters.

Most recently, Energy Minister Jack Keir admitted that talk of a second nuclear reactor at Point Lepreau is probably just that - talk.

The Graham Liberals had long-pushed the idea of a second reactor at Lepreau, exclusively for exporting power to the United States.

Even this year Graham said he was optimistic the province would eventually house a second - or even third - nuclear reactor.

But the project is hardly whispered about anymore.

And there is even less talk about the proposed second oil refinery for Saint John, which was shelved by BP and Irving Oil in July.

The decision not to proceed with the $8-billion project was a major setback for Graham, who often touted the refinery as the main piece of a so-called energy hub in the Port City.

Instead, Graham has mainly turned his focus to energy developments that don't involve shipping electricity to the U.S.

For example, he now talks often about the liquefied natural gas terminal in Saint John and the solar panel manufacturing plant in Miramichi.

"The energy corridor is a bundling of many energy sources - whether it's natural gas, electricity or other sources," he said recently.

"There are many opportunities in the development of an energy corridor, because there is not one single energy source."