News Release Archive
NATURAL RESOURCES--NS TO PRESS FOR PREFERENTIAL GAS TOLLS
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Natural Resources Minister Eleanor Norrie said today that Nova
Scotia is making a strong argument for Sable gas transportation
tolls that will favour the province.
"We live closest to the gas and the gas processing plant will be
in Nova Scotia, so we want distance-based tolls for gas delivery
and distribution within our own province," said Mrs. Norrie.
"Distance-based rates will maximize the benefits and potential
for economic development that natural gas will surely bring."
Transportation tolls are the rates charged to ship natural gas on
a pipeline.
At the Sable gas project joint review panel hearings in
Fredericton today, lawyers representing the government of Nova
Scotia challenged the pipeline company's proposed "postage stamp"
toll that sets the same rate for all users along the pipeline,
regardless of the distance the gas is moved.
"This is simply not acceptable to Nova Scotia," said Mrs. Norrie.
"Why should Nova Scotians pay the same gas transportation toll as
users farther along the pipeline in New Brunswick, Maine or
Boston?"
Mrs. Norrie said changes in the North American natural gas
industry over the past decade have recognized that toll rates
should reflect the distance that gas travels and the trend is to
move away from subsidized or "postage stamp" rates.
"People in Alberta pay lower tolls on Alberta natural gas than
Saskatchewan residents and Saskatchewan residents pay lower tolls
than people in Manitoba," said the minister. "It should not be
any different in our part of the country."
Mrs. Norrie also noted that, as with other provinces where
natural gas is distributed, Nova Scotia wants jurisdiction over
delivery systems within its own boundaries.
"With the province having control, the systems will be
competitive and fair to gas consumers," she said. "That is why
the Nova Scotia Gas Distribution Act was introduced and passed in
the recent session of the legislature. My job is to ensure that
the best interests of Nova Scotia are served and this act ensures
that we will have competitive access to natural gas and that Nova
Scotia companies will have an opportunity to get into the gas
distribution business."
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Contact: Blain Henshaw
902-424-5252
Maurice MacDonald
506-457-7000 ext. 444, or cell 902-497-7018
trp May 15, 1997 - 5:10 p.m.
