Author: CREDNB

In May, former New Brunswick Energy Minister Mike Holland tabled a bill to change the Electricity Act. The change would allow NB Power to enter a partnership with Ontario Power Generation (OPG). The bill became law in early June.

In a letter to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) on May 29, Peskotomuhkati Chief Hugh Akagi outlined his initial concerns with the proposed agreement between NB Power and OPG, which reportedly includes a partial ownership stake in the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station.

The letter is from the Passamoquoddy Recognition Group (PRGI) which represents the Peskotomuhkati Nation in Canada and the interests of rightsholders and the Peskotomuhkati ecosystem, including the Point Lepreau Nuclear Station. Any new owners of the Lepreau CANDU nuclear reactor will have rights and responsibilities that PRGI wants clarified.

Read the story published today in the NB Media Co-op, HERE.

CRED-NB champion, the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance (NBASGA), put its comments on the energy transition up on its website, HERE.

In its submission, NBASGA argues that renewable energy – primarily wind and solar – should be the focus of the lion’s share of New Brunswick’s energy investments. It is the only option that checks all the strategic focus boxes, including affordability, energy security and reliability. Similar to CRED-NB, NBASGA believes that new nuclear energy is not needed. The submission quotes the latest research showing that SMRs are too expensive, slow and risky.

Energy storage plays a key role in helping wind and solar power dominate the growth in electrical grid capacity. Storage includes batteries or other systems that hold energy until it’s needed. With adequate storage, the New Brunswick electrical grid no longer needs energy sources such as natural gas that emits greenhouse gases (GHGs) or risky and expensive nuclear power.

Read the full article in the NB Media Co-op by CRED-NB’s Tom McLean, HERE.

CRED-NB is pleased to participate in an information-sharing workshop in Fredericton presented by the NS Voice of Women for Peace. This activity is part of their journey to Ottawa to join with peace and social justice groups from across Canada to protest CANSEC, the largest annual weapons trade show in Canada.

At the event, CRED-NB will share information on the links between the civilian nuclear industry, including in Canada and New Brunswick, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The workshop, entitled Demilitarize, Decarbonize, Decolonize, will be held in Fredericton at Conserver House, 180 St. John Street, on Saturday, May 25 from 7 to 8 PM.

On April 23, CRED-NB core member Tom McLean presented our vision of a nuclear-free renewable energy future as part of the Atlantic Canada Climate network speaker series. In the video, Tom describes how New Brunswick can meet its future energy needs with renewable energy and storage technologies. Watch the video:

Indigenous leaders from New Brunswick and Ontario held a media event in Ottawa today to share their concerns about nuclear waste on their homelands. Participants:
Chief Hugh Akagi, Peskotomuhkati Nation in Canada
Chief Ron Tremblay, Wolastoq Grand Council
Mississauga First Nation Councillor Peyton Pitawanakwat
Elizabeth May, Co-Leader of the Green Party of Canada, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands
Facilitator: Kim Reeder, consultant, Passamaquoddy Recognition Group

Watch the video HERE.
Read the media release HERE.

The APTN covered the story, HERE.

In our submission to the New Brunswick Energy & Utilities Board (EUB), CRED-NB urges the EUB to require that NB Power validates its demand for higher power rates by taking proactive, economically and environmentally responsible action to improve its overall performance while reducing greenhouse gas emissions to address the climate emergency in the years leading to 2030. We submit 11 improvement strategies that can help NB Power achieve its prime requirements and advancements at the lowest cost, in the least time, and with greatest benefit. Read our submission HERE.

CRED-NB core member Tom McLean will be presenting CRED-NB’s vision of a nuclear-free renewable energy future on Tuesday, April 23 at 1 PM by zoom. The event, part of the Atlantic Canada Climate network speaker series, will describe how New Brunswick can meet its future energy needs with renewable energy and storage technologies. Register HERE for “Balancing the Conversation: Nuclear-free Renewable Energy Futures with CRED-NB.”

CRED-NB is one of 17 groups involved in a lobby on Parliament Hill with awareness-raising events for the public in Ottawa, starting on April 29. This will be our group’s second time on the Hill and we’re looking forward to it. Here’s the public events schedule: https://stop-smrs.weebly.com/not-nuclear.html

One of the Ottawa events is a webinar open to all: May 1, 8 PM Atlantic, CRED-NB core member Susan O’Donnell will speak on a panel at the Public Forum: Canada’s Nuclear Future – Renaissance or Relic? Register HERE for an Eventbrite ticket – the zoom link will follow closer to the date.

Our friends in Northern Ontario are asking allies across Canada to sign their Parliamentary petition that closes on May 4. Their petition page with the link to sign is HERE.

The petition calls upon the Government of Canada to require the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (of which NB Power is a member) to demonstrate that it has the consent of residents and communities, including First Nations and Treaty Organizations, along the transportation route and in the region of and downstream of the candidate site for the proposed deep geological repository for the burial of all of Canada’s high-level nuclear waste (including the waste generated by the Point Lepreau nuclear reactor in New Brunswick).