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2 Tuesday June 2 2015 POLITICS ENERGY NEWS BRIEFS Avalon Rare Metals closes public offering for a prot Avalon Rare Metals Inc. announced last week it had closed its recently opened public offering of ow-through com- mon shares and units which resulted in gross proceeds of 4.007 million. A release from Avalon states the company intendstousethefundsfromthesaleofthesharesforwork onthreemineralpropertiesincludingtheNechalachoRare Earth Elements Project in the NWT along with the East Kemptville Tin-Indium Project and the Separation Rapids Lithium Project. Fireghtingpilotkilledinwaterbomber crash near Lac La Biche A pilot was killed during a fire-suppression plane operation last week as he was fighting wildfires in northern Alberta. The 37 year-old pilot who hailed from B.C. went down in a Conair Aerial Firefight- ing-owned AT802 Amphibious Fire Boss around 430 p.m. on May 22 about 100 km east of Lac La Biche. Investigations are ongoing. Premier Rachel Notley is asking Alberta residents to respect fire restrictions to reduce risks emergency responders have to face. Edward Sangris retains position as YKDFN Dettah Chief IncumbentleaderEdwardSangrisYellowknivesDeneFirst NationYKDFNDettahChiefwasabletoholdontohispo- sition following last weeks election. Sangris claimed a total of210votesfollowedbycompetitorsShirleyTsettawith88 andNuniSansparielwith62.Sangriswillstayonforathird four-year term after rst being elected in 2007. The next YKDFN elections will take place on June 15 with 10 coun- cillors from Dettah and NDilo vying for seats. INTERIOR HEAVY EQUIPMENT Operator School www.IHESCHOOL.com Call Now 1-866-399-3853 Housing Transportation Packages Available NO SIMULATORS JOB ASSISTANCE FOR LIFE NEVER SHARE MACHINES START ANY MONDAY GET TRAINED. GET WORKING. Continued from page 1. In total if NTPC was to take over NULs infrastruc- ture and functions in all of its communities including Yel- lowknifeTenneysaiditwould cost taxpayers an additional 180 million that could be better spent on healthcare housingeducationandroads. Asked if he could break down that estimate Tenney declined in light of the up- coming bid process. He said whatever price NTPC paid for the infrastructure would be determined by a third-party arbitrator since NUL is un- willing to negotiate a sale. Critics say savings under NTPC unlikely Tenneyemphasizedthatthe move to expropriate NUL would send a negative mes- sage to the private sector and hurtAboriginalbusinessinter- ests since NUL is part owned byDenendehInvestmentsInc. Thatworrywasampliedlast weekbyRangeLakeMLADaryl Dolynny and Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus who both expressed difculty believing NTPCcouldbringdownpower costs by eliminating NUL. TheGovernmentofNorth- westTerritoriesispreparedto spend 180 million tax payer dollars to acquire electrical assets that already exist have already been paid for by the private sector and operates sic exceptionally well in- stead of investing that money intonewinfrastructurethatis so greatly needed throughout the territory Erasmus wrote in a letter to Miltenberger last week.Contrarytothebeliefof some government members the acquisition of these assets will do nothing to lower the cost of living or energy costs in the NWT. Can the NTPC stand on its own two feet and at least break even for the taxpayer The simple answer is no. In fact when we add up all the subsidies all the contribu- tions to NTPC NT Hydro and NT Energy plus calculate the dividends taxpayers did not receive from 2010 onwards and factor in the bad debts the write-offs at over 2 mil- lion and you are left with a grand total of 104482910 Dolynny added in the leg- islature. This gure of al- most 105 million is what it cost our shareholders our people out of their pockets to run their Crown corpora- tion jewel from 2004 to 2015. I must add not once did our power rates go down. Tenney believes there are other options like reducing rate zones across the terri- tory working together on a long-termstrategythatwould see more hydro power tapped for possible export south or even a potential merger of NUL and NTPC. Thatpartnershipwedont know exactly what it would look like it could be that we put the companies together and we just end up with some kind of a share in that or potentially end up with put- ting the operations together. Theres a bunch of potentials in there that need to be dis- cussed Tenney said. Little late for merger Miltenberger Miltenberger said NULs gures are exaggerated and unfounded just like the claims that the GNWT is planning to do away with the Public Utilities Board or that NTPC doesnt support First Nations when half of its 42000 shareholders are Aboriginal. Those claims he said are distractions from the real issue at hand. All were talking about is biddingonapublicprocessfor the franchise in Hay River Miltenberger said. The issue of pushed out is they have to be competitive. If they want to win this they can do that. They just have to put in the best package. That sentiment was echoed in legislature by Yellowknife CentreMLARobertHawkins who called it ironic for a pri- vate company to oppose a fundamental principle of free enterprise and commended Hay River for opening the contract up for competition regardless of which company is successful. The real winner at the end of the day are the citizens of Hay River because they will have a robust competition and the person with the best proposal will win Hawkins told the Journal. The sky is not going to fall. Lets let the market dictate the price. Though Hawkins said he doesnt support one company overtheotherheisinterested inseeingwhowinsthetender as it will likely set the stage for what happens when Yel- lowknifes franchise agree- ment comes up for renewal next year. If they are not success- ful with the franchise pro- posal for Hay River are they going to lose Yellow- knife Theres no guarantee Hawkins said. They might sharpen their pencils even better and compete harder to get this one. But its ab- solutely critical to have a public competition. As for NULs proposal to possibly merge with NTPC in order to protect their assets and save government money Miltenberger balked. When they say merger I hear privatize the Power Corp. give it to ATCO and that suggestion leaves me absolutely stone cold when we already know their rates are 30 per cent higher in Hay River than they are in Fort Smith and Fort Resolution he said. NUL not for sale says executive PhotocourtesyofNorthlandUtilities A powerline technician for Northland Utilities does work on a power system in Hay River.