Welcome to the Circus I grabbed a ringside seat already and am willing to share my popcorn if your shoes ain't shiny

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avid Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos 

Replying to @DavidRayAmos @Kathryn98967631 and 49 others

Welcome to the Circus I grabbed a ringside seat already and am willing to share my popcorn if your shoes ain't shiny


https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2018/10/welcome-to-circus-i-grabbed-ringside.html


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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/coal-fired-power-plants-carbon-tax-1.4882669

NB Power to dodge major carbon taxes after Ottawa proposes looser rules on coal plants

Greenhouse gas bill for Belledune station could fall to less than $1 per tonne after policy change

Robert Jones · CBC News · Posted: Oct 30, 2018 5:00 AM AT

124 Comments 
Commenting is now closed for this story.

 
David Amos

Methinks many folks must have noticed how important the words of the dude who can't be named are lately N'esy Pas?

Craig O'Donnell

Good. Now let's wait for the other shoe to drop.

David Amos

@Craig O'Donnell Trust that I am enjoying the Circus

Mario Doucet

The Stephan Dion green "shift" has become the Justin Trudeau green "shaft".

David Amos

@Mario Doucet Methinks back in 2006 Dion as a dual citizen should never have been allowed to try to become our Prime Minister in 2008 let alone be a Cabinet Minister and a member of the Privy Council. Which country is he truly loyal to?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/dual-citizenship-mps-senators-parliament-australia-1.4439522

Years later I thought the same of the turncoat lawyer Mulcair

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/thomas-mulcair-defends-dual-citizenship-1.1184291

David Amos

@Mario Doucet That said Guess how many Yankees sit on the Board of Directors of the Crown Corp NB Power and guess who is their highest paid employee? Another Yankee? How dumb are we?

Greg Smith

I'm glad this "policy change" has been put in place to benefit those New Brunswickers most des-IRVING.

David Amos

@Greg Smith SHHH You will spoil the fun

 
Paul Bourgoin

Federal Environment Catherine McKenna's office in Ottawa, proposes looser rules on coal plants is saying one thing and doing an other.

David Amos

@Paul Bourgoin Methinks thats what lawyers and politicians do and she is both N'esy Pas?

 
David Stairs

it is only being dropped because of the Irvings and the gypson the coal produces for them...wake up people...it will only benefit the big dog....we will still be paying...

David Amos

@David Stairs Methinks the awful truth is that most folks simply don't give a damn N'esy Pas?

David Stairs

and if you read the article on the Mactaquac summer repair you will see it was the dam and it's gates that caused the flood as the gates were not able to open...

Shawn McShane

@David Stairs This is what I read: "Flows came up and the operator had to open the gate and they opened the wrong gate … this stoplog has been there ever since."

(Stoplogs are hydraulic engineering control elements that are used in floodgates to adjust the water level or discharge in a river)

cheryl wright

@David Stairs from what I have been able to gather is that the stop log lodged in place and therefore they could not shut the gate and that is why the water came up so fast and furious and there were videos of the headpond being the lowest most people have ever seen. either way the dam is one of the reasons why so many people lost so much this year but nobody will investigate and if they do they wont state their findings because it is nbpower

Fred Brewer

@David Stairs
I have also heard that the gates at Mactaquac are what made the lower river flooding as bad as it was. With an operational gate they would have been able to mitigate the severity of the flooding, but because it was jammed they were unable to do anything.

David Amos

@Fred Brewer Methinks it was rather interesting that NB Power has denied having anything to do with the problem N'esy Pas?

Anne Bérubé

Cannot believe this mess, thanks to the Trudeau's liebs. Come on people, they should be obligated to switch from coal to natural gas, what are they waiting for? Meanwhile, all the liebes are on the wagon that YES while the taxpayers (namely the little people) pay a carbon tax while not using that coal garbage. And you think this is fair?

David Amos

@Anne Bérubé Do you really think politicians and lawyers play fair?

Lou Bell

This will just leave the door open for NB Power to find the " easy/ lazy "way out rather than the reasonable one. I look at the provinces / states surrounding NB and it is being left behind in every way when it comes to change and technology , be it power , tourism, innovation, and production of our assets , such as the Sisson Mine project. Cowering to fringe groups who ALWAYS produce all kinds of questions for not moving ahead , but have no answers, at the sacrifice of health / technology / innovation / is the template of past governments and most likely the future .

David Amos

@Lou Bell Methinks NB Power knows that I am far from done as an Intervener in the 357 Matter It is just beginning again after they delayed it for over a year until after the recent election However they still don't know who their new political bosses will be yet Too Too Funny N'esy Pas?

 

 
Brian Robertson

Whatever is decided, it will only exist for a year, and the current inept crew will be gone.

David Amos

@Brian Robertson Methinks they have some litigation to deal with as well in the "mean" time N'esy Pas?

 
Roy Kirk

Too bad there isn't a way to reliable collect and save a tax on Belledune's CO2 emissions to use to pay down the debt owing on the plat at the time of its early closure in 2030. But that would seem to mean giving NB Power and/or Cabinet access to a large and growing pot of money over the next decade. And we all know that would be 'invested' in pet projects of management and Cabinet rather than used to retire the debt.

There is no easy way to manage and regulate the affairs of a Crown utility to serve the public's interest ahead of those of politicians and management.

David Amos

@Roy Kirk "There is no easy way to manage and regulate the affairs of a Crown utility to serve the public's interest ahead of those of politicians and management"

Yea there was but the folks didn't want to sell it remember?

  

Roland Godin

Anybody ready to listen to a proposal from HydroQ...EH!/voilà.

Fred Brewer

@Roland Godin
I am. HQ is an incredibly well-run company that returns its profits to the government of Quebec, sometimes to the tune of over a billion dollars per year. This is done with the lowest power rates in all of Canada. Contrast that with NB Power that is hopelessly saddled with a $5 billion debt that it cannot pay off despite power rates that constantly go up. With the expertise of HQ, NB Power could become very profitable.

Bob Ols

@Roland Godin

Only if HQ doesn't decide top hold NB hostage in the future like they have with NF.

Fred Brewer

@Bob Ols
NF made a bad deal with HQ but a deal is a deal so you cannot fault HQ. So it is up to us to make a good deal when we sell NB Power.

Don Kwasny

@Bob Ols So link into the NFLD. power grid once up and running.

Roland Godin

@Fred Brewer
Smallwood, by that signature, most likely had Québec officially recognize Labrador as NFld territory, if so who was shafted...et voilà.

Roland Godin

@Roland Godin
Opps, reply to Bob Ols.

David Amos

@Roland Godin Methinks I just pointed that out too N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Fred Brewer "I am. HQ is an incredibly well-run company that returns its profits to the government of Quebec, sometimes to the tune of over a billion dollars per year."

Me Too

 

maude windsor

what a crock is this overly unfair 'carbon tax'...new brunswick mines nice hard coal..hardly the thing of high carbon counts. the trudeau government have spent so much they need to tax us more....really nothing to do with decreasing carbon outputs......resource extraction companies are way ahead of trudeau & his minons as all have scientifically developed new technologies that reduce carbon outputs. guess someone forget to tell trudeau....

Fred Brewer

@maude windsor
NB's last coal mines were shut down decades ago. Minto was the last one to close and its coal had a high sulphur and mercury content.

David Amos

@Fred Brewer Theres something I didn't know

Mike Krchnak

LPC picking winners and looser's, really? Say it ain't so.
As far as this pollution rhetoric that the LPC brass parrot, it is coal that creates actual pollution, but this major polluter will get a pass. Instead Co2, which is not a pollutant but an inert gas that is critical to our very existence, will be taxed in an attempt to make us believe that this will save the planet.

Is there any wonder why these clowns in government should not be trusted?

David Amos

@Mike Krchnak "Instead Co2, which is not a pollutant but an inert gas that is critical to our very existence, will be taxed in an attempt to make us believe that this will save the planet. Is there any wonder why these clowns in government should not be trusted?"

BINGO Don't ya just love the clowns prancing around this 3 ring circus?

Methinks if the Irving Clan would quit mowing down our forest It could handle the Co2 with ease N'esy Pas?

Bob Ols

Sometimes I wonder if there is anything but a vacuum between the dear Minsiter's ears? The whole idea was to incentivize people and companies to make greener choices. NB is sitting on top of huge natural gas reserves and this would have been a great opportunity to begin developing the resource. Like Alberta, NB could migrate off coal generated electricity to much cleaner natural gas. But in the end I suspect it is all about Liberal MP's hanging on to their seats as they witness successive provinces boot out the left leaning gov'ts. Ontario, Quebec, NB and soon, AB.

Marguerite Deschamps

@Bob Ols : "NB is sitting on top of huge natural gas reserves". Well, that's sure news to me!

Bob Ols

@Marguerite Deschamps

I am not surprised given you have/had a Liberal gov't for the past number of years. Here is a great link to the info. You folks should get after it!
http://nbnaturalgas.ca/nb-natural-gas/

David Amos

@Marguerite Deschamps Methinks its fairly obvious that you don't live in new Brunswick N'esy Pas?

Andy Z

In AB we currently pay $30/ton on coal plant carbon emissions, and Liberal vote-rich NB will pay $0.91/ton for coal carbon emissions into the same atmosphere. YEAH, that seems fair.
Liberal votes trump any meaningful environmental policy.

Fred Brewer

@Andy Z
News Flash. Liberals were voted out of power in our last election here in NB.

Andy Z

@Fred Brewer
◾Arseneault, René, Madawaska-Restigouche (Liberal)
◾Cormier, Serge, Acadie-Bathurst (Liberal)
◾DeCourcey, Matt, Fredericton (Liberal)
◾Finnigan, Pat, Miramichi - Grand Lake (Liberal)
◾Harvey, TJ, Tobique-Mactaquac (Liberal)
◾LeBlanc, Dominic, Beauséjour (Liberal)
◾Lockhart, Alaina, Fundy Royal (Liberal)
◾Long, Wayne, Saint John - Rothesay (Liberal)
◾Ludwig, Karen, New Brunswick Southwest (Liberal)
◾Petitpas Taylor, Ginette, Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe (Liberal

Andy Z

@Fred Brewer
News flash: You don't know what you're talking about.

Don Kwasny

@Andy Z So if New Brunswick pays $1.00 per ton for coal-fired power Alberta should pay the same. The way the Trudeau carbon tax seems to be going is all big emitters will be excused but the taxpayers will pay? What has the carbon tax got to do with reducing emissions? Trudeau says those who pollute must pay. Yet the big polluters don't? Go figure. Just seems like a dumb plan that will tax us more.

Fred Brewer

@Andy Z
What's your point? Having a minority of members elected is not the same thing as being in power. Gallant is on his way out, he just does not know it yet.

David Amos

@Andy Z Methinks I do and Mr Brewer is correct Furthermore many folks in NB will agree that several of the liberals you just listed will lose their seats a year from now N'esy Pas?

 
Bastardo Sanchez

Get em high and tax the the sky.

David Amos

@Bastardo Sanchez Sounds like an old Beatles song

Robert Tyre

Apparently pollution is free, at least for the worst offenders. More tax subsidies for the corporate world. There is no real concern for reducing pollution of any kind. Put the pollution fee at the source of every product and watch it start to reduce when the price of products includes the price of pollution. ally.But that would mean polluters pay, and we can't have that, evidently

David Amos

@Robert Tyre I don't follow your logic Methinks the price of the products would go up not down For instance the Yankees moved lots of jobs and pollution into China so that we all could get a good deal on the products and the Yankees not have to deal with the pollution and the lawsuits N'esy Pas?

Derek Little

Liberals catering to the Irving's, nothing new here.

Content disabled.

David Amos

@Derek Little Methinks the news is tits about the Feds again just when they agreed that the Irving Clan could pay the bargained down fines to its favourite charity Even the judge has doubts about that one N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Derek Little I tried to tell you why it was news but was blocked Methinks I touched a nerve N'esy Pas?

 


Ken Komatich

Some carbon producers are more equal than other carbon producers I guess.....coincidence that it is on east coast, where they swept all the seats.

David Amos

@Ken Komatich Methinks it was Harper and his malicious contempt towards Maritimers that caused Trudeau The Younger and his cohorts to win every seat in 2015. In 2019 everybody knows Harper 2.0 will get the loyal Conservative ridings back without much effort on his part. However the lawyer Rob Moore may have a little trouble getting his seat back in Fundy N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fundy-royal-riding-profile-1.3274276

 
Joe Rocket

I’m surprised there isn’t a picture of McKenna wearing a whiplash collar.

David Amos

@Joe Rocket "The Trudeau tax on everything tax."

Did you read my reply?

 
David Amos

"New Brunswick Green Party Leader David **** said that tells him, lobbyists had their way with the first proposal."

DUHHH???

Methinks somebody should tell the dude whom you can't type his name that NB Power is a Crown Corp Thus they don't need lobbyists to hustles the same people they work for. However methinks many folks would pay to see the lawyer McKenna argue the Crown's lawyers about why the Crown should tax itself N'esy Pas?

Ken Komatich

@David Amos The feds own NB power? Manitoba Hydro is a provincial corp, and they are paying the full freight, like every other power corp not in a area the libs are depending on for re election

David Amos

@Ken Komatich NB Power Is a CROWN Corp not a Fed Corp get it?

David Amos 

@Ken Komatich FYI made this comment earlier

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/doug-ford-scott-moe-announcement-1.4882428

@Joe Rocket "The Trudeau tax on everything tax."

I agree with Scheer in that the carbon tax rebate is just a liberal gimmick to save face and try to buy some votes before the next election is upon them all. However Trudeau the Younger did not help his buddy Premier Gallant with his new plan just as he is trying to secure a minority mandate. Clearly there is no love loss between them and the federal liberals have written Gallant off.

However as soon as I read this article I thought of the Premier's big Pow Wow in New Brunswick close to the Yankee border last summer and the light dawned on my marblehead. If anyone wishes to recall Gallant backtracked and inter provincial trade etc after the big win about beer in the Supreme Court. Clearly he knew he had fallen out of favour within his own party so he was looking find new buddies no matter the colour of the political coat The Throne Speech on Oct 23rd proved it in spades. N'esy Pas?

With all this in mind I made one comment then got on the phone to Premier Ford's office and his Attorney General's Offices as well (The call to Ford was recorded by them with my permission) I discussed the emails I had sent them and I have heard nothing further from them today but I did recive another interesting emaill from a former wannabe Ontario PC leader.

Months ago I talked to Premier Moe's office about Carbon Tax etc and they did respond to my email but I have heard nothing more since Moe came to New Brunswick. Go Figure why I am running or public office again next year.







 
George Jones

Ford, Moe and Palliser are going to have an absolute heyday with this. Get the popcorn ready.

David Amos

@George Jones Welcome to the Circus I grabbed a ringside seat already and am willing to share my popcorn if your shoes ain't shiny

 
nancy smith

Just simply shameful .

David Amos

@nancy smith Nope its comical

 
nancy smith

CM you have turned this into a spectacle . A shameful spectacle

David Amos

@nancy smith Yes it is all just part of the Circus

nancy smith

Canadians how can you not be enraged at this??????????????????

David Amos

@nancy smith Relax

 
Don Cameron

-"...Ottawa proposes looser rules on coal plants"-

Doesn't this defeat the very essence of the 'carbon tax'?
Coal plants should have the very highest levels of carbon taxation.

Elias Snodgrass

@Don Cameron
Carbon is not a pollutant, and it was never about the environment anyway

It's just a tx grab

David Amos

@Don Cameron "Doesn't this defeat the very essence of the 'carbon tax'? "

Hush now you may spoil the Circus Lets see what the dippy lawyer says next.

David Amos

@Elias Snodgrass YUP

 
Anthony Kennedy

As this whole fiasco progresses it becomes more and more clear that this about politics and not greenhouse gas emissions.

David Amos

@Anthony Kennedy Methinks everybody knows everything political is always about the money N'esy Pas?

NB Power to dodge major carbon taxes after Ottawa proposes looser rules on coal plants

Greenhouse gas bill for Belledune station could fall to less than $1 per tonne after policy change

Robert Jones · CBC News · Posted: Oct 30, 2018 5:00 AM AT

A policy reversal by the federal government on emissions standards on coal-fired power plants could benefit New Brunswick consumers by eliminating the need for power rate increases to pay for carbon taxes. (CBC)

In a climate-policy retreat over the treatment of coal, federal Liberals are proposing to loosen emission standards for power plants that burn the fuel, effectively lowering carbon taxes on each tonne of greenhouse gas released from coal-burning stations, like NB Power's Belledune, next year to less than $1.

That could mean significant benefits for New Brunswick consumers, eliminating the need for power rate increases to pay for carbon taxes.

But it also undermines federal claims made as recently as last week that major greenhouse gas polluters, like Belledune, would pay the most under Canada's new carbon pricing scheme

Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna's office explained a federal commitment to ban coal generating stations in 2030 makes heavy carbon taxes on coal unnecessary given the costs it would impose on electricity customers.

"A price on pollution is one way to reduce pollution from the electricity sector — but it's not the only way," wrote Caroline Theriault, McKenna's press secretary, in an email to CBC News.

• Feds reject New Brunswick carbon tax plan, impose new one

• Federal carbon tax rebates to N.B. families will be lowest in Canada

"One of the most important measures to reduce pollution from electricity is our commitment to phase out traditional coal power by 2030, all while ensuring a just transition for coal workers and communities through the Just Transition Taskforce."

The proposed exemption for coal is so large it will eliminate most of the carbon taxes New Brunswick's biggest greenhouse gas emitter, NB Power, was warned it would be facing just six months ago.

It would also allow it to continue releasing most of the greenhouse gases it currently produces at its coal-fired generating station in Belledune for free.

Federal Environment Catherine McKenna's office explained Ottawa's commitment to ban coal generating stations in 2030 makes heavy carbon taxes on coal unnecessary given the costs it would impose on electricity customers. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

According to federal records, the Belledune generating station, which burns a combination of coal and petroleum coke, emits 838 tonnes of greenhouse gases for every gigawatt hour of electricity it produces.

The new federal proposal would exempt 800 tonnes of that from carbon taxes.

That will allow 95.5 per cent of Belledune's greenhouse gas emissions to pass through its giant 168-metre smoke stack for free and will slash NB Power's carbon tax bill at Belledune next year to $2.5 million.

That is an effective carbon tax rate for Belledune next year — which emits up to 2.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses annually — of just 91 cents per tonne.

Stunning change in carbon tax fortunes

It's a stunning change in the carbon tax fortunes of NB Power.

Belledune was the second largest source of greenhouse gases in Atlantic Canada in 2016, behind the Irving Oil Ltd. refinery in Saint John. Last week, federal officials were indicating it would be operations like Belledune hit hardest by national carbon taxes.

"Pollution is not free and we all have to pay for it," said federal Liberal cabinet minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor last week at an event announcing how New Brunswick families would be shielded from carbon taxes by federal rebates.

Federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, the Liberal MP for Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, said at a news conference on carbon taxes last week that "pollution is not free and we all have to pay for it." (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

"We certainly want to make sure that the big polluters, the big emitters, are the ones that are paying and not New Brunswick families."

Last year, NB Power sketched out scenarios for what a full carbon tax applied to its fossil fuel-burning generating stations would cost it and customers.

It included a worst case 22 per cent, carbon-driven rate hike over nine years, most of it caused by emissions at Belledune.

Change could slow down transition to other fuels

Dale Beugin, the executive director of the Ecofiscal Commission, an environmental and economic think tank, said he believes the new proposal on coal will mean no carbon tax power rate increases at all will now be required in New Brunswick.

But he said he is concerned treating coal too generously will slow down the transition to other fuels.
"I do worry that the coal-specific standard undermines incentives to switch to gas, though the coal phase out may address that concern over time," said Beugin.

• How the carbon tax will affect you in 2019

• Gallant Liberals ponder legal options after Ottawa rejects province's carbon tax

Last spring, Ottawa proposed that all fossil fuel-burning generating stations be treated the same with the first 420 tonnes of greenhouse gases per gigawatt hour of electricity produced exempt from carbon taxes and everything above that subject to a charge.

That gave natural gas an enormous cost advantage over coal and oil that was designed to encourage fuel switching at plants.

But that plan was abandoned in favour of new, fuel-specific limits that are tougher on natural gas and looser on coal and oil.

Now, natural gas stations face carbon taxes on emissions above 370 tonnes, oil on emissions above 550 tonnes and coal above 800 tonnes, a major concession to coal plants.

New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon says that tells him, lobbyists had their way with the first proposal. (CBC)

New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon said that tells him, lobbyists had their way with the first proposal.

"The price business is so open to being gamed and influenced by lobbying and that's exactly what's been happening," said Coon

"We need to have legally binding caps that are ratcheted down over time on emissions."

Federal officials say the new emission and carbon tax standards for fossil fuel generators are proposals only and could still be adjusted further.

About the Author

 

Robert Jones

Reporter

Robert Jones has been a reporter and producer with CBC New Brunswick since 1990. His investigative reports on petroleum pricing in New Brunswick won several regional and national awards and led to the adoption of price regulation in 2006. 

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