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To: Richard Saunders who wrote (7859)	1/17/2001 8:40:51 PM
From: John Trudeau	Respond to of 24899

Richard, "...A reasonable estimate for the cost of this debacle is $5 billion over the next two years. " Food for thought for Albertans: Novatel, Swanhills, Magcan, etc... the tally for these debacles was approximately $5 billion over about 5 years. The good part is, we still might have to spend a few 100 million $$$$ of taxpayer's money for Swanhills:) Other points of interest: - the NEP cost Alberta, according to my industry contacts' estimates $5-6 billion. Oh yes, Peter Lougheed signed the agreement... he didn't have to... minor detail. Peter was a great leader, don't get me wrong. I just get tired of hearing Albertans gripe about Ottawa. - the $5-$10 billion blown on the 2 debacles mentioned above, was voluntary, and many of the funds ended up going to private Co's, several of which are managed by PC cronies. - the best part yet..... Albertans haven't seen anything yet. Once health care $$$s start to officially flow to private health care providers, you'll see some serious trough feeding by private investors with links to the PC party. You can already see it. More than one previous administrator of the CRHA is an investor in these private facilities. - should I mention the Heritage Trust Fund? Stellar growth record huh? Anyway, enough ranting. My point is simple. I like Ralph's business attitude, but he's been influenced too much by some very influential business types from Calgary. And 2ndly, let's be fair when bashing political parties. At least the Feds used the $$$ for the benefit of the country. Hmmmm... perhaps it's time for a made in Alberta NEP;) Done - quite therapeutic. Thx. JT

To: Richard Saunders who wrote (7859)	1/17/2001 10:49:44 PM
From: John Fairchild	Respond to of 24899

Good post one key ingredient missing though. Oil fired generation can be converted to gas through burner modifications and in fact can use the same burner for duel fuel gas and/or oil. Coal fired units use oil for startup and to stabilize the fire at minimum loads and at high loads when the units are suffering from wet coal deratings. The trend has been to convert coal fired oil support to gas support. Spot gas started becoming more expensive than oil in the summer and with tighter acid gas emission standards utilities have been forced to run expensive gas instead of oil and in many cases shut down the cheap coal fired generation. Gas fired non-utility generators (NUGS) have seen the largest increases of installed capacity over the last ten years. These NUGS in many cases have no obligation to provide electricity and have in many cases sold their gas contracts making it an extra big hit on the electric utility. It is not a pretty situation. Acid gas limits will have to be raised in the short term. Utilities can't even get their coal fired units off line long enough (up to a year) to install scrubbers. The tight gas situation is very long term. Over 8,000 wells a year have to be drilled in the basin to keep up with current demand. Thought I would share this tid bit. John