Abandoning a Community

When we last left this blog narrative, we were closing in on an explanation for a dramatic change in attitude on the part of Maritime Electric.

In the fall of 2006, they acknowledged the seriousness of the problem they created for the residents of Grant Road/Gowan Brae. The previous post documented how the utility promised to move the transmission line in November 2006, but when a new route was secured, they claimed that they could not “rationalize” the extra $75,000 it might cost.

However, despite all their correspondence indicating a willingness to ethically conduct themselves, despite their stated desire to mitigate the harm brought by their transmission line, and despite the fact that their route was determined via a deeply flawed public “engagement” process, ultimately, Maritime Electric’s profit margin proved to be of paramount importance. In their eyes, it was more important than our collective community loss.

What were some of the reasons for this shift? The previous post promised to outline some reasons for this change in tune, and they are listed below. Readers should consider this a foray into decoding the “Fortis Ethic” of corporate conduct, and form their opinions accordingly.


“Cost Containment” Explanations

If one gives Maritime Electric management the benefit of the doubt, and assume that they were committed to pursuing a bypass last fall, then something must have happened within the corporation which changed this commitment. On this premise, two reasons spring to mind explaining their about-face on this issue.

1. The month of March likely marks the utility’s financial year-end. There seem to have been cost-overruns for the transmission line. Last summer, the estimate for construction of the transmission line was 3.575 million (see post 2, on April 29), whereas their cost now is calculated at about 3.75 million (see post 1 on April 22). This indicates they overspent on the project by about $175,000. Given how we’ve seen them balk at spending $75, 000 on us (see post 1 on April 22), even this proportionally small overrun would provide sufficient economic incentive for them to drop the bypass. They’d already gone over their budget, and so someone in senior management decided made this decision.

2. Last winter, after we had secured this renewed commitment from the utility, another community in western Prince Edward Island heard of our efforts, and decided to try and move a transmission line being built to serve the Ventus wind energy installation at the western tip of the province. Between November 2006 and April 2007, the utility considered that the real cost of helping us would potentially set a precedent they would have to apply to this case, and they broke their commitment to us to avoid this.


“Media Manipulation” Explanations

It is possible, on the other hand, that they had no real intention of reopening the bypass as an option at all. Given the shift in tone and the ultimate outcome of our efforts, it seems quite possible that Maritime Electric simply engaged in a public relations process for political reasons.

1. Keeping residents at Grant Road/Gowan Brae occupied with the process of finding a “reasonable” bypass route ensured that the opening of the Eastern Kings industrial wind installation in January 2007 would pass without our protest, without our criticism, and without incident. It is not unreasonable to think, given their about-face in recent weeks, that they engaged with us for a few months simply to ensure that the opening of the wind energy installation would not be compromised.

2. A final consideration is that the provincial election, which came to a close on May 28, provided them with a perfect opportunity to walk away. The utility erased all ambiguity about their intentions, and how they defined bypass “rationalization,” on April 20, 2007. This was only a few days before the provincial election was called, which everyone in the province knew was coming. Perhaps utility management knew that our community’s ability to get media or government attention in such a context would be difficult, if not impossible. They were, unfortunately, quite correct.

So, this is what happened at Grant Road/Gowan Brae, a small and close little community on the outskirts of Souris, Prince Edward Island, over 2006-2007.

All of us at Grant Road/Gowan Brae continue to hope for a solution to our problem and we really do not consider this episode in our history closed. We are still resolved to hold Maritime Electric and the provincial government of Prince Edward Island accountable for what happened to our once beautiful and safe community. I hope the utility and the government officials involved have thought long and hard about what it means to radicalize a whole community of new critics of their poorly-considered energy policies.

Certainly, I have been both radicalized and deeply angered by what unfolded in Grant Road/Gowan Brae over the past year and half.

Stay posted for some thoughts on good government and power policy.