AN ALBERTA EAGLE SPIRIT (AES) CROWN CORPORATION
An Alberta Eagle Spirit (AES) crown corporation will get a sustainable, multi-energy, multi-pipeline corridor quickly approved and built to the safest port on Canada’s west coast while meeting the needs of all stakeholders.
CROWN CORPORATIONS
Crown corporations are government-owned corporations that provide commercial services and have goals that include both commercial as well as public policy concerns.
Crown corporations are listed under Schedule III of the federal Financial Administration Act (FAA) which outlines a legal framework for the accountability of publicly owned organizations.
While crown corporations operate at arm's length from the government, government control of a crown corporation can be exerted through the corporation's budget and the appointment of its chairperson and directors.
Schedule III of the FAA is divided into two parts, the second of which is for corporations that operate in a competitive environment, do not depend on government appropriations, earn a return on equity, and generally pay dividends.
Unlike Part I corporations which must annually submit for approval by the Governor in Council a corporate plan, capital budget and operating budget, Part II corporations need only include a dividend proposal in the corporate plan.
Government can also only partially own a Crown corporation. In these cases, the government owns some of the shares with the remaining shares owned either by another level of government (called joint enterprises) or private parties including the public (called mixed enterprises), or both.
Albertans have a history of creating and operating beneficial and successful crown corporations: AEC (Alberta Energy Co.), AGT (Alberta Government Telephones, later TELUS), and, currently, ATB (Alberta Treasury Branches).
NEED FOR AES
There is a complete lack of national leadership promoting and succeeding in the creation of an efficient and sustainable coast-to-coast energy/pipeline/utility corridor.
Private pipeline proposals have so far failed miserably in winning critical superior court challenges to their environmental impact, sustainability, economic benefits, and meaningful consultation with affected First Nations and local communities.
Eagle Spirit Energy Holdings Ltd’s (ESEHL) proposal for a sustainable, multi-pipeline, multi-energy corridor from the oil sands to the Prince Rupert, B.C. area has the approval of all 35 First Nations along its entire length.
An AES crown corporation will:
—organize, administer, construct and operate the northwest leg of a coast-to-coast corridor for the economic benefit of its potential owners — Albertans, British Columbians, First Nations, the industry, and local communities;
—be environmentally sustainable by virtue of low-carbon hydropower for coastal LNG plants, corridor operations, and for shale gas and liquids extraction and processing; by reducing GHG emissions from the oil sands by displacing burning of natural gas; and by providing LNG exports to displace coal burning in power plants thereby reducing GHG emissions by half and eliminating almost all the smog and air pollution from burning coal;
—invest on behalf of its owners in litigation to repeal Bill C-48, The Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, and to remove any restrictions under B.C.’s Great Bear Rainforest (Forest Management) Act;
—invest in the detailed engineering, environmental evaluations, and First Nations and community consultations required to prepare, submit and expedite a successful application to the National Energy Board and federal cabinet for an Eagle Spirit corridor.
STRUCTURE OF AES
An Alberta Eagle Spirit crown corporation will be structured as a Schedule III Part II mixed/joint enterprise that earns a return on equity and pays dividends to government(s), First Nations, and private owners including the public.
—First Nations under ESEHL would own and administer 100 percent of their lands in the proposed corridor.
—Each pipeline, electric transmission line, or other utility using the Eagle Spirit corridor would pay a tariff or rental to ESEHL based on well-defined negotiated criteria.
—Marine terminals for pipelines terminating on First Nations coastal lands will pay an annual rental or other negotiated consideration for those lands.
—Pipelines, marine terminals and all associated surface infrastructure (compressor stations, pumping stations, power, access roads, and all other utilities) will be owned by AES.
—First Nations will be offered through ESEHL a minority equity interest in AES by means of commercial or government loans payable from AES dividends and a right-of-first-refusal to increase their ownership of AES should AES be privatized later.
—The Board of AES will include an Alberta government minister, representatives from ESEHL, industry and the public, and a chairperson.
It is to be noted that the current Alberta NDP government has shown no inclination to even mention, let alone promote or support, the Eagle Spirit proposal in public, or to fight against the northwest coast oil tanker ban.
However, even Dr. Andrew Weaver, Leader of the Green Party of B.C., asked in a BNN interview “Why aren’t we talking about the Eagle Spirit project?” — opening the door to negotiations with the B.C. government.
It verges on criminal that Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and her NDP government have not followed up on Dr. Weaver's opening to discuss a sustainable, multi-pipeline, multi-energy corridor to west coast tide-water.
Premier Notley's obsession with the bone-headed, fatally-flawed Trans Mountain expansion proposal will result in her government's defeat on election day May 31, 2019 — with still no new pipeline to west coast tide-water.
Mike Priaro, P. Eng.
Calgary, September 27, 2018
403-281-2156
