What they said (V)

Excerpts from a letter by Roger Pike, from the Telegram of February 27, 2009:

As I reflect on the demise of AbitibiBowater and the expropriation of the company's hydro assets, I can't help but wonder if any of us truly know what is at stake and what the hydro assets are worth to the government, or more importantly, to the central Newfoundland region. I would like to think there is a Bob Barker out there to explain to us citizens what we have actually won. We do know the wheel of fortune has been spun and that there is some sort of a prize, but for some reason we can't get a handle on how much that prize is worth or, better still, how we collect it and eventually use it.

[...]

There is now a direct benefit to our region of approximately $15 million annually associated with the 54 megawatts once used by AbitibiBowater to make paper. After 40 years, the benefit would double with loan payments (assuming they borrowed) no longer required. That's why the premier expropriated the hydro assets and not the mill. There is no money in paper anymore. It's all in the hydro.