HYDRO QUEBEC ACCESSES VERMONT GAS
In a move to boost profits for the Quebec owned utility, Hydro-Quebec (HQ)
has accessed the larger US energy market by agreeing to acquire 40% of
Noverco Inc., making HQ the 5th largest supplier of energy in North
America and part owner of the company that controls VTUs only natural gas
utility.
HQ intends to buy 32% of Noverco who holds 80% of Gaz Metropolitan & Co.
Gaz MetropolitanUs U.S. subsidiaries are Northern New England Gas Corp.
and VT Gas Systems Inc.
HQ, noted in the past for building large scale hydro projects, some of
which have caused environmental and social problems such as the La Grande
Project in northern Quebec, is now headed for the natural gas market.
Recently HQ signed agreements with Mexico to provide support in natural
gas technology and financing which could further bleaken the picture for
the indigenous people of Chiapas and the Lacandon rainforest which sits
upon oil and natural gas reserves.
Also of note is the Sable Gas Project which is supposed to start gas
flowing to the American market, via approximately 558 kilometers of
pipeline through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, by November 1999. An
alternative pipeline route has been proposed by Gaz Metropolitan through
Quebec and then into VT which would further solidify HQ as an energy
faucet for the U.S.
The above information is from the BULLETIN issue #9, Feb-March 97
The BULLETIN is published bi-monthly by:
NATIVE FOREST NETWORK
Eastern North American Resource Center
POB 57
Burlington, VT 05402 USA
(802)863-0571
(802)863-2532 Fax
email: nfnena@igc.apc.org