DALHOUSIE - Mayor Clem Tremblay has a message for the provincial government: he says that it should give serious consideration to a report about NB Power's thermal generating plant here.

Tremblay said on Thursday of last week that he and town administrator Christy Arseneault met with the manager of the plant, Jeff Everett. They were told that the report, which will be presented next week, shows other uses for the facility and ways to save money.

Tremblay said that they were told the report, prepared by people at the plant over the past 14 to 18 months, identifies savings of $18 million a year. He said that, in light of this, the government consents to have a second look at the situation here.

At the same time that the energy minister announced that NB Power will be sold to Hydro Quebec, the minister stated that the Dalhousie plant would close some time after the end of June, 2010. The plant had been modified to burn an inexpensive fuel from Venezuela called Orimulsion. Under the existing contract, if Orimulsion could not be supplied, NB Power would have to be sold oil at the same price - about $20 a barrel.

The last shipment of cheap oil will arrive next June. When it runs out, the plant is supposed to close. Depending on the amount of fuel in the plant's tanks, it could run for another six months or more.

However, the report Tremblay mentioned is said to include recommendations for modifications of the plant making it viable beyond 2011. Tremblay said that he did not know if that report would be presented to NB Power's board of directors, to the energy minister, or to Premier Shawn Graham.

Tremblay hopes that somebody will look at it since its adoption would mean both the retention of valuable jobs in the area and a maintenance of an important contributor to the town's tax base and revenue.

On Wednesday, Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour minister Donald Arseneault confirmed that he was aware of this report and that it would be presented to NB Power's board of directors. He said that he and energy minister Jack Keir had met with union representatives (IBEW Business Manager Ross Galbraith and Local 37 Executive Board member Derek Gallen) and made a commitment to look at the report to determine if the Dalhousie plant could be competitive in today's market. On the other hand, he said that it is hard to see how it can show a return on investment.

(Bill Clarke - Campbellton Tribune)