PCs question appointment
New consumer advocate calls Muskrat Falls an ‘embarrassment to Nalcor’
Dennis Browne, lawyer and longtime critic of Muskrat Falls, has been appointed as the province’s consumer advocate, a role he previously held from 1996 to 2004.
Dennis Browne, lawyer and longtime critic of Muskrat Falls, has been appointed as the province’s consumer advocate, a role he previously held from 1996 to 2004.
The consumer advocate is a formal role within the public utilities board process, responsible for speaking on behalf of consumers in regulatory hearings.
Speaking to The Telegram about his new job, it didn’t take long for the conversation to arrive at the massive Labrador hydroelectric project, which is behind schedule, over budget and the subject of bitter indigenous protests over environmental contamination.
“Muskrat Falls was a really bad idea, and it’s a financial embarrassment to Nalcor and to the province,” Browne said. “It’s clear from everyone’s perspective — the utilities, Newfoundland Power and Newfoundland Hydro, and indeed the government — that the consumers of the province, the ratepayers, won’t be able to pay the burden of Muskrat Falls.”
Browne said one of his big concerns is that there is no possible way for the 260,000 ratepayers of the province to handle the full cost of construction.
If electricity rates double, many consumers will switch to other forms of heating, which in turn will make the electricity even more expensive for the remaining ratepayers. This could create a sort of death spiral of ever-rising electricity rates.
Browne replaces Tom Johnson, another St. John’s lawyer, who came under some criticism from some of the people who watch this issue closely because he was seen as not being a vocal enough critic of Muskrat Falls.
Browne was a member of the “2041 Group” of experts who were highly critical of the Muskrat Falls project before the project was sanctioned and construction began.
Browne didn’t criticize Johnson, but said he is going to be directly focused on ratepayers.
In the release from the provincial government, the Department of Justice and Public Safety made a specific note that Browne was chosen by the Liberal government’s new Independent Appointments Commission, which was established to find meritbased candidates for certain public appointments.
Nonetheless, the Progressive Conservative opposition issued a news release drawing attention to Browne’s ties to the Liberal party, which date back more than a decade to the Brian Tobin and Roger Grimes governments.
“Many people in the province are qualified to serve as consumer advocate, but when the cabinet considered who to appoint — because this was indeed a cabinet appointment, not an Independent Appointments Commission appointment — the Liberals have repeated the pattern of favouring the candidates with the strong Liberal pedigrees,” said PC Leader Paul Davis.