South Coast Today - darrell dexter

BP to pay billions in Deepwater Horizon spill settlement

Timothy Gillespie — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 16:23:05 +0000

The federal government and the Gulf Coast states have reached a tentative deal with the British oil company BP for it to pay about $18.7 billion, the largest environmental settlement in American history, to compensate for damages from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, federal, state and company officials said Thursday.

An American BP subsidiary, BP Exploration and Production, will pay at least $7.1 billion, and possibly more, to the federal government and the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Florida, for damage to natural resources; $5.5 billion in penalties to the federal government for violation of the Clean Water Act; $4.9 billion to the states to compensate for harm to their economies; and up to $1 billion to more than 400 local governments.

It is thought by many that the Deepwater blowout, fire and spill triggered the Dexter NDP government's descision to impose a moratorium on oil and gass drilling on Georges Bank in 2010. Prior to the spill, premier Dexter had traveled to an oil and gas convention in texas where he offered up drilling leases on Georges Bank as enticements for exploration commitments in Nova Scotia waters.

Less than 72 hours before the Deepwater spill, Fisheries and Environment minister Sterling Belliveau told a legislative committee that deepwater drilling was so safe, it would be near-impossible to have a major blowout.

SEE NEW YORK TIMES STORY

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Film tax credit move as dumb as ferry cancellation?

Timothy Gillespie — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 12:05:02 +0000

Chronicle Herald reporter asks if McNeil's Film Tax Credit cuts rivals Dexter's ferry cancellation as dumb move

From the Chronicle Herald by Mike Gorman: During the budget lockup on Thursday, Finance Department officials were woefully unprepared to answer what should have been obvious and anticipated questions [about the drastic cuts in film tax credit] from reporters, given the prominence the issue of the tax credit assumed in the weeks leading up to the budget.

It is troubling that department officials, and then the minister, acknowledged they have no idea what impact the change will have on the industry other than it will be disadvantageous.

SEE FULL STORY HERE

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OPINION: A lifeline for Darrell Dexter

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 20:50:18 +0000

by Zach Churchill, MLA - Yarmouth:
The premier’s recent announcement committing up to $21 million for ferry restoration is welcome news for Yarmouth, South West Nova, and tourism businesses across the province. It is also encouraging to see that even the ever stubborn Darrell can crack from political pressure and do an about-face on a position in which he has been entrenched for three years.

Take it back to January 2009

Darrell axes the ferry, pays Bay Ferries $3 million to terminate their contract, says “NO” to a municipal government offer to jointly fund the ferry for an extra year, and plunges the tourism industry in the province into a sharp decline.

500 jobs were lost as a direct result of the loss of the ferry. As hotels, motels, B&Bs, inns, restaurants, and tourism outlets fold along the South Shore hundreds more are lost. The Chamber of Commerce claims that Nova Scotians have lost millions of dollars in profits, all because the premier wanted to save $3 million.

And for three years ferry proponents have listened to the premier claim he made the right decision and that the tourism industry was doing better as result of it. This, of course, angered countless Nova Scotians.

In response to this, the premier announced $700,000 for economic development initiatives in South West Nova, created three economic development teams (Team South West, Team West, and Task Force South West), and covered the losses of one hotel to the tune of $1 million.

What happened? Full-time and seasonal jobs continued to decline and the economy of the region continued struggle.

Enter summer 2012

The premier commited to funding a panel to review his ferry decision, which cost an additional $50,000. September 2012, just twenty minutes after he supposedly received the panel’s report, he committed $21 million over seven years (a lot more than was needed three years ago) to restore ferry service.

While extremely well written and articulate, the panel’s report provided no real new information on the ferry. In fact, the report’s conclusions echo arguments that ferry proponents have been pushing for the last three years.

So why wait so long to commit funding to a ferry service, especially since three years out the costs are much higher to the province? Did the premier think the panel could provide him with enough political cover to change course? Did he have a change of heart? Too much political backlash? Down in the polls?

Maybe it was all of the above and he just got tired of hearing about it.

In any case, the premier’s reversal is a win for Yarmouth, the tourism industry, and for ferry proponents across the province. A big thank you is in order for community members who kept up the fight; for petition and rally organizers for keeping the pressure on; for the Nova Scotia International Ferry Partnership for its enduring commitment to negotiating with the premier; and for the Official Opposition, who committed a Liberal government to restoring a ferry service and who kept banging on this issue for the last three years.

Our work is not over

There are a lot of conditions tied to this money; we still need the federal government to pony up some cash and a ferry provider who is willing to pursue a market that has been lost for three years. But this is an undeniable first step and should kick start a process that should have began three years ago before so much was lost.

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OPINION: Easy as shooting fish in a barrel

Timothy Gillespie — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:43:02 +0000

Pots boiling over on every burner

From column by Marilla Stephenson in Chronicle Herald: Political opportunity is knocking and Nova Scotia’s two opposition party leaders are falling all over each other in an effort to make the most of it.

The NDP government delivered on its 2009 campaign promise to provide a rebate on the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax on residential power bills. But that happened a few years ago and the benefits are mostly forgotten in what seems to have become an endless string of requests from Nova Scotia Power to increase rates.

Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil has been all over the power rate issue for months, drawing blood against the government at every turn.

Meanwhile, Tory Leader Jamie Baillie is on a rant about the closed meetings and an attempt to keep confidential a critical audit of the power company.

While all this is happening and while ee can’t get a ferry off the dock in Yarmouth for at least two more seasons, where is Premier Darrell Dexter in the middle of all this uproar?

Gone to China on a trade junket with his pals, the other premiers, while pots are boiling over on every burner.

When the legislature opens sometime next month, the heat will go up even further. McNeil and Baillie have the easiest jobs in Nova Scotia these days; no tougher than shooting fish in a barrel.

SEE THE FULL COLUMN HERE

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OPINION: Rookie NDP govt correcting a mistake?

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 07:55:02 +0000

In a hard-hitting editorial in its Sept 11 issue, the Shelburne County Coast Guard takes aim at the "rookie" Dexter government for botching the Yarmouth-USA ferry issue, with their "knee-jerk" yanking of $7 million-plus per year in subsidies.

Read the full text of the editorial here:

EDITORIAL - SHELBURNE COUNTY COAST GUARD, SEPT 11, 2012

Finally...

After the release of a much-anticipated report on restoring a Yarmouth-U.S. ferry service, Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter wasted little time announcing that the province would commit up to $21-million over seven years towards the return of a viable service.

While that's great news, and marks the first real commitment by the government towards reestablishing the much-needed ferry, there are still no guarantees a service will ever return.

But the province will soon put out an expression of interest seeking a private sector ferry operator willing to run "a successful and profitable" ferry service between Yarmouth and Portland, Maine.

The report concludes that a ferry service could exist with the right business model and the premier stressed, with the right partners.

The report also suggests 2014 is likely the most realistic tmieframe in trying to get a service back in place, as opposed to
2013.

And there will also be a big investment from the federal government needed with up to $13 million to repair and refurbish the Yarmouth terminal facilities required.

Premier Dexter also took the opportunity after the report's release to justify the 2009 decision to withdraw funding from the existing Cat service, saying that it was not viable and couldn't exist without a growing subsidy.

While that may be true, we still believe that the then rookie NDP government made a huge error in what we could only term as a knee jerk reaction to the growing need for subsidies for the ferry.

We believe-the government did not consider just how important this ferry was, not only to tourism and economic development but towards the pervasive sense of economic and physical isolation many the southwest region feel

In his remarks to the media on Friday the Premier said in southwest Nova Scotia the ferry issue became a political football and a "method of attack on the government" that he believed totally unwarranted

Unwarranted?

Oh, it was warranted

Ending the service subsidy was a rookie move that really should have had a sober second look before an apparently arrogant young government took out the axe.

We also believe that if the issue had not become a "political football" that the question of a ferry service would likely never have surfaced.

We can only view last week's announcement as what it was... an important step to correcting a mistake.

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OPINION: A lifeline for Darrell Dexter

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 20:49:12 +0000

The premier’s recent announcement committing up to $21 million for ferry restoration is welcome news for Yarmouth, South West Nova, and tourism businesses across the province. It is also encouraging to see that even the ever stubborn Darrell can crack from political pressure and do an about-face on a position in which he has been entrenched for three years.

Take it back to January 2009

What happened? Full-time and seasonal jobs continued to decline and the economy of the region continued struggle.

Enter summer 2012

Maybe it was all of the above and he just got tired of hearing about it.

Our work is not over

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