Expropriation blunder costs will continue to add up

While the Premier admitted yesterday that the taxpayers of the province will be on the hook for the hundreds of millions of dollars it will take to clean up Abitibi’s environmental liabilities, those costs are just the beginning of a very long and costly process, says Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones. The issue was raised earlier today in the House of Assembly.

The Premier stated in 2008 that the expropriation action would not cost the taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador any money. However, we now know that the people of the province will be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars. While the Premier is refusing to put any dollar figure on the Abitibi expropriation blunder, there are several issues that will cost significant money. We know hundreds of millions will have to be paid to Abitibi for the expropriated brick and mortar assets, we have to pay millions in legal fees for lost challenges in the courts, we have to pay millions for maintenance and security costs at the accidentally expropriated mill, we have to pay millions to compensate Fortis and Enel for expropriating their assets, we are facing a $500 million NAFTA challenge in the courts and we are on the hook for hundreds of millions in environmental clean-up costs.

“Government continues to hide information related to this file and refuses to put a pricetag on what their mistakes will cost the people of this province,” said Ms. Jones. “The Minister of Natural Resources has already misled taxpayers when she stated on April 27^th in the House of Assembly, “Mr. Speaker, the polluter pays and under no circumstance will we be responsible for remediation that Abitibi is responsible for. That is the bottom line.” The minister is either out of the loop or was hiding the information from the public.”

Jones says the Minister of Natural Resources also needs to advise the public how much money the province is on the hook to pay to Fortis and Enel, the third party companies also impacted by the expropriation. “There are millions of dollars in compensation that will have to be paid to these companies because their assets were also impacted by the expropriation. The minister couldn’t provide any information regarding this today including whether these companies will be partners with Nalcor on the power project, whether they will receive a lump sum cash payment from taxpayers, or whether they will  receive royalties from the people of the province. We already know that government is paying the principle and interest on Fortis’ $59 million loan on the project, however, the minister couldn’t provide those costs to us today either.

“In addition, the Minister of Environment continuously stated that she could not provide any remediation plan or costing of environmental liabilities until Abitibi submitted their plans to the province. The courts have ruled that Abitibi doesn’t have to take that action. It is time for the minister to do her job and get this process started, complete the next phase of environmental assessments to determine the scope of work required to clean-up these sites in the province, and outline the cost estimates that government has for this clean-up.

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