A key document discussing how Nova Scotia Power’s proposed $208-million biomass power project stacks up against other renewable energy projects must be made public, government regulators ruled Tuesday.
The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board said it does not agree that the whole document, prepared by Deloitte & Touche for the power company, should be kept secret.
Instead, the regulator has ordered Nova Scotia Power’s lawyer Dan Campbell to submit a "redacted version" of the document with its findings and mandate.
The utility says it will file a revised version today with the board, a day before a hearing reconvenes into Nova Scotia Power’s controversial proposal to generate electricity using wood waste in Point Tupper.
Nova Scotia Power labelled the Deloitte & Touche report confidential when it was filed to government regulators last week.
While the board understands there is competitive information surrounding the bids of the other renewable energy projects, the regulator believes other aspects of the report can be made public.
On Thursday, a hearing resumes into Nova Scotia Power’s request to spend $208 million to build and own a biomass plant that NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp. will operate, using an old burner at the plant valued at $80 million.
A hearing into the biomass project got underway in late July but was abruptly halted by the regulator’s board chairman in order to compare the biomass project with the other renewable energy proposals the power company had solicited.
The Deloitte & Touche report was filed Sept. 2 and it is not the only piece of evidence in this hearing that has been classified confidential.
Twenty-two other pieces of evidence, out of a file of 61 exhibits, have been kept under wraps, mostly at the request of Nova Scotia Power.
In April, Nova Scotia Power applied for approval of a capital work order to build the biomass power plant. The same month it issued a request for proposals for other renewable energy projects.
This latest order comes four months after the board told Nova Scotia Power it was upset with the number of documents filed by the power utility that were being marked confidential without proper substantiation.
In its decision on the use of confidential documents, "board decisions must contain sufficient information so that a reader can clearly understand how the board reached its decision," the board wrote.
It also said the public and the media should have maximum access to evidence filed by the power company when it comes before the board for approval of power rates and capital expenditures.
John Merrick, Nova Scotia’s consumer advocate, told The Chronicle Herald last week he would be reviewing the documents labelled "confidential" filed with the biomass project to see if it is justified.
"Any time there’s a large volume of redactions or a large volume of evidence that has been kept confidential, you should be suspicious and you should be concerned that it is being misused or overused," said Merrickhttp://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1200652.html
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