Robinson, J. Michael

English

Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Canada-United States Law JournalVolume 28 | Issue Article 35January 2002New Electricity: Generation, Pricing, Wheeling &Regulation: IntroductionJ. Michael RobinsonFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cusljPart of the Transnational Law CommonsThis Speech is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons.It has been accepted for inclusion in Canada-United States Law Journal by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School ofLaw Scholarly Commons.Recommended CitationJ. Michael Robinson, New Electricity: Generation, Pricing , Wheeling & Regulation: Introduction, 28 Can.-U.S. L.J. 237 (2002)Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cuslj/vol28/iss/35NEW ELECTRICITY: GENERATION, PRICING, WHEELING &REGULATIONIntroduction - J. Michael Robinson, Q. C.tI am Michael Robinson. First, I would like to take care of a fewhousekeeping items. I was going to do something really useful, probably theonly useful thing I have ever done as a member of the advisory board, andthat is try to take Henry's bell away from him. We did that once a few yearsago, but he managed to get it back. I made some inquiries; Henry'sphysician told me that he had to have his bell back because he was riskingserious injury to his hands from all his loud clapping he has done for the lastfew years. I am afraid we will have to live with the bell.I can give you a bit of news about why the Institute is so important.Frank Loy's sympathy statement about the friendly bombing of the Canadiantroops' was obviously heard in Washington, because, apparently somebodyin the White House told Mr. Bush that he should probably say something;The Plain Dealer reported he did indeed say something yesterday.2Notwithstanding that, I will note for the people who were here for thepresentation by the press last night that, the day after the friendly bombing,neither The Wall Street Journal nor The New York Times had one single itemabout it in the paper - which shows you that Canada, as usual, does not makeenough noise to be heard in New York.As the last-minute substitute presider for this session, I have the luxury ofnot having had the chance to review the presentations of the speakersbeforehand; that is a luxury because I can ask a bunch of hard questions inthis introduction and hope that they will answer them in their presentations.However, if they do not, I will not be too hard on them. For David Manning,he may tell us in his presentation how California made such a hash out of itsprivatization or partial privatization of electricity generation and what DavidDrinkwater's client should be doing to avoid doing the same thing in Ontario.We are going to a private, fully competitive system on the first of May 3 - ten1 B.A., University of Western Ontario; LL.B., University of Toronto. Counsel, FaskenMartineau DuMoulin L.L.P., Toronto, Ontario.1 See Frank Loy, On a Collision Course? Two Potential Environmental ConflictsBetween the U.S. and Canada, 28 CAN.-U.S. L.J. 11, 11 (2002).2 See Editorial, A Tragically Misplaced Bomb, PLAIN DEALER (Cleveland, OH), Apr. 19,2002, at B8, available at 2002 WL 6365191.3 See Martin Mittelstaedt, Electricity Switch Costly for Many, GLOBE & MAIL, Feb. 1,1Robinson: New Electricity: Generation, Pricing, Wheeling & Regulation: IntrPublished by Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons, 2002CANADA-UNITED STATES LAW JOURNALdays from now - so David Manning may be able to tell David Drinkwaterhow Ontario can avoid screwing it up like California did. For DavidDrinkwater, I want him to answer the question that has been asked in at allCanadian papers: are electricity prices going to go up or down on the first ofMay? Nobody really knows the answer, but everybody would like to thinkthey know. The Greens are all screaming that they are going to go up,4 andOntario Power Generation is wisely not saying anything; maybe David willtell us what will happen.I do not think you will hear about subsidies. Where is Simon Potter? Didhe make it this morning? Our Canadian counsel for Quebec on Lumber IV5and many other lumber cases, Simon Potter, might be interested in trying toanswer this question: why has the U.S. not gone after the Canadian publicutilities, who export vast quantities of electricity to the U.S. and enjoysignificant, probably counter-available advantages like tax concessions,being able to borrow on the government's credit, etcetera? The U.S. choosesto go after softwood lumber industry, but nobody seems to have gone afterelectricity - Quebec Hydro, BC Hydro, or Manitoba Hydro. Now OntarioHydro is going to be added to the list.Now in Canada, we have several sacred cows, in addition to the Queen.She is a charming lady and we all love her. There is hockey, too, and Igather there are still some Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs.There is this thing called Canadian culture but we do not know exactly whatthat is. Another one of our sacred cows - a really important one - is gettingelectric power from public utilities at cost. We are going to lose that one inOntario, because it is not going to come from a public utility anymore; it isgoing to come from competitors supplying power to us starting May 1.So I will now move on to introduce our speakers. David Manning isgoing to go first because the U.S. is more of a deregulated environment thanthe Canadian one, and David Drinkwater will follow up. David Manning is acloset Canadian. We are supposed to have U.S.-Canadian balance here, butManning came from Alberta, where he took his undergraduate degree and hislaw degree. He is also not a real person; he is a lawyer. He even got calledto the New York bar, but for quite a while now he has been a real personbecause he has been in the real business of supplying energy in the U.S., toU.S. consumers, through KeySpan, where he is now a senior vice president.I just discovered a bit more about KeySpan; it is one of the true convergentenergy producers. It gets energy, particularly gas, out of the Gulf of Mexico,2002, at A8.4 See id.5 That is, the fourth Canada-U.S. Lumber Trade dispute. For more information, seeCanada-U.S. Lumber Trade Disputes, at http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/HET/Softwood/disputes.htm#Introduction (last visited July 6, 2002).[Vol. 28:2372Canada-United States Law Journal, Vol. 28 [2002], Iss. , Art. 35https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cuslj/vol28/iss/35Robinson-INTRODUCTIONbut also gets a significant amount from Canada. It generates about 6,000MW of its own electricity, which it supplies in New York, and it burns itsown gas to do it.6 This business has grown quite large, so David really canspeak authoritatively, not just as a lawyer, on what has been happening in theU.S. within the less-regulated or deregulated regime. Before he went toKeySpan, he was president of the Canadian Association of PetroleumProducers - we just heard their story at the last session - and was actuallyinside the government as Deputy Minister of Energy in Alberta in the mid-1990s. Before then, he was senior international trade counsel for theGovernment of Alberta, based in New York.David Drinkwater, whom I have known for years as a very prominentsecurities lawyer based in Toronto and also in London, where he worked onsome of the first truly major international securities issues - theprivatizations by Mrs. Thatcher in England. He then decided that he hadenough of this big law firm nonsense and went into industry, where he wasfirst at Bell Canada as Special Advisor to the Chairman and CEO at thatlarge Canadian sacred cow. He then became Group Vice President of Lawand General Counsel for Bell. David has recently moved on to a verychallenging position at Ontario Power Generation (OPG), which is one ofthree subsidiaries of Ontario Hydro, which is being split up. It is the one thatactually generates power. There is a bit of mistake in the printed biographyhere; it says that he oversees non-nuclear matters but David actually saidthat, notwithstanding trying to hide from that nasty part of OPG's business,he got stuck with having to negotiate a very interesting yet difficult contractwhereby Ontario has leased one of its major nuclear facilities to a big Britishoperator to try to recoup some of the large stranded debt that Ontario hasfrom having built nuclear reactors over the years.Without further ado, I think we should let David Manning start. I will getout of his way.6 See KeySpan Energy: Fast Facts, at http://www.keyspanenergy.comabout/fastfacts.cfm (last visited July 6, 2002).2002]3Robinson: New Electricity: Generation, Pricing, Wheeling & Regulation: IntrPublished by Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons, 20024Canada-United States Law Journal, Vol. 28 [2002], Iss. , Art. 35https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cuslj/vol28/iss/35

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