"Nalcor will make a decision in the very near term as
to what appeal avenues will be pursued," added Premier Williams. "This
process before the Régie has already taken four years which is onerous
and unfair by any standard as Hydro-Québec projects have been given the
green light in the interim period. The irony is that Quebec promotes
itself as a leader in clean, green energy solutions yet they are doing
absolutely everything in their power to ensure that this tremendous
green project is shelved to protect their own commercial interests. It
is in the interests of electricity markets in the northeast to have more
participants and therefore for the Lower Churchill project to proceed.
In an effort to guarantee that the rest of Canada and North America are
able to get competitively priced power, we intend to move forward.
Further, we see it as most unfortunate that Quebec is a strong advocate
for free trade, in particular with the European Union, but does not seem
to want to apply those principles to its own neighbours."
Premier Williams said that although this decision is
obviously not the desired outcome, the province through Nalcor will
continue with plans for development of the Lower Churchill project.
"By no means does this decision mean that we are
stopping or slowing down plans to develop this extraordinary clean,
renewable energy project," said the Honourable Kathy Dunderdale,
Minister of Natural Resources. "We knew the potential for this
unfortunate decision and this is precisely why we have been pursuing two
alternative routes to market, including the Labrador-Island Link, the
Maritime route as well as the pursuit of a separate 724 MW transmission
service request into the Maritimes and New England. This is an extremely
attractive clean energy project and we are anxious to move forward."
The Premier added that not only did the Régie show a
complete lack of regard for open access principles, they went beyond the
scope of the complaints they were hearing and suggested the transmission
lines in Labrador and Upper Churchill generating facility are under the
control of Hydro-Québec. This completely ignores the Upper Churchill
contract, the realities of that existing project and provincial rights
and jurisdictions.
"In essence, the Régie has ignored the limits to
Hydro-Québec's power entitlements under the 1969 contract to give
Hydro-Québec the majority of the access on the existing corridor from
Labrador into Québec," said Premier Williams. "To suggest that these
assets are under the control of Hydro-Québec TransEnergie is quite
simply wrong and patently unreasonable. The Régie further made an
erroneous assertion by disregarding other contracts serving load in
Labrador from the Churchill Falls plant, that Hydro-Québec takes
priority over the Twin Co power block which supplies IOCC and recall
power used by the province, in particular for the people of Labrador.
This is clearly in contradiction of the Upper Churchill contract and I
can assure the people of the province, we put absolutely zero credence
in these statements by the Régie. Indeed, it further de-legitimizes the
entire regulatory process."
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