Author: CREDNB

1 September 2021

Work together to force governments to act on the climate emergency NOW! 

Hello everyone,

My name is Doug Swain. I’ve been a member of Extinction Rebellion New Brunswick (XRNB) since April 2019. I’m writing to you because we are at a critical stage in the climate crisis. The 2018 IPCC report stated that we needed to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by about 50%  globally by 2030 to  avoid a high probability of unstoppable runaway climate change. Three years out of the 12-year window have already passed and GHG emissions continue to rise in Canada.

Now the latest report concludes that the 2018 report was too optimistic, and greater and sooner reductions in GHG emissions are now needed (XR would say that we need net-zero by 2025). But Canada hasn’t even started to address the 2018 target of ~50% reductions by 2030.

Scientists have warned about global warming for over 30 years but governments have failed to act. Now they must take strong action immediately. In my view, governments will only start to address the climate emergency with the required urgency if 10s of 1000s of people are marching repeatedly in the streets across the country. I don’t think that this will happen until the many climate action, environmental and just transition groups act together to mobilise these numbers. So I am writing to you to see whether your group would consider working together with like-minded groups to make this happen. I have set up a Zoom meeting on September 15 for us to discuss this. The link and details are below.

Also, if you want to give this a try before our meeting, there will be an opprtunity on Wednesday Sep 8 in Saint John. On Sep 8, 350.org is organizing marches or rallies across Canada to demand a moratorium on fossil fuel expansion, including stopping existing expansion projects, and an urgent and robust just transition plan that leaves no one behind and moves us past fossil fuels. For further details and sign-up google ‘350.org/still-on-fire/’

Thanks you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Doug Swain
Extinction Rebellion New Brunswick.

***

Invitation to work together in the fight for action on the climate emergency
Topic: WorkTogether
Time: Sep 15, 2021 07:00 PM AST
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The New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance (NBASGA) has joined the CRED-NB core group of members. Welcome!

From the NBASGA website:

“NBASGA values our basic human right to fresh air, clear water, a healthy environment and a prosperous future for our children and grandchildren.

“We represent the interests of all New Brunswickers opposed to unconventional shale gas and oil exploration and development.  We believe that clean energy alternatives will provide New Brunswick with a brighter, more secure future.”

It’s election time. Let’s do our best to ensure nukes are an issue that candidates must address!

Resources were prepared by the national group advocating for a future free from nuclear energy: questions for candidates, links to infographics for social media, and an action tool.

You can access them HERE.

The Bloc Québécois (BQ) could block the Liberal Party’s chance of forming a majority government in Canada. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives are pushing new nuclear development (so-called small modular nuclear reactors).

Over the past year, the BQ has issued three media releases opposing the new nuclear reactors. Now their platform has underlined the party’s commitment to stopping these dirty, dangerous distractions from climate action. Bravo!

Check out this website or read the statement signed by more than 100 public interest, Indigenous and civil society groups, including CRED-NB, explaining why we are opposing new nuclear development, HERE.

Both the PCs and Liberals are fuelling the latest money pit – untested, unproven new nuclear reactor designs. If they spend enough money, and if they work, the new reactors will generate the most expensive electricity!

The cost of nuclear energy is going way up while renewable solar and wind energy costs are going way down. Spending public funds on more nuclear is a bad investment.

The provincial government and NB Power have already given $30 million to two start-up companies from the UK and the US to develop plans for new reactors at Lepreau. The Trudeau government has given more than $50 million more.

NB Power is almost $5 billion in debt. More than $3 billion of that is from its massive cost over-runs on the refurbishment of its Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station and the expensive ongoing repairs to the nuclear plant since then. And we want more?

Around the world, nuclear power has a long history of massive expenses and repairs coming in millions over-budget. And governments – we, the taxpayers – always end up with the bill.

The Point Lepreau nuclear debt is driving up electricity costs in New Brunswick. Now both the PC party and the Liberal party are promoting MORE nuclear power for New Brunswick.

Building the two proposed new nuclear reactors in New Brunswick will cost more than $2 billion each. Billions more will be required from future taxpayers in New Brunswick to clean up and store the radioactive concrete, steel, and other materials left when the  new reactors are decommissioned.

Why should we leave a financial mess along with the dangerous radioactive materials risking the health of our children and grandchildren and many, many more generations of New Brunswickers in future?

Good question, so why are both the PCs and the Liberals promising to give New Brunswick more nuclear energy?

The nuclear industry is desperate to survive and lobbying hard for public handouts. Because the new reactors have no customers, there is no business case so the banks will not finance the development unless the government guarantees the loans.

Better still for the nuclear industry, the plan seems to just hand over billions in public cash, in non-repayable grants!

The nuclear industry lobby group  representative in New Brunswick has another job: he is the Vice-President Nuclear of NB Power and the highest-paid public servant in the province. A circular, bottomless money pit!

Both the provincial and federal government are handing millions in public funds to a UK company to extract plutonium at Point Lepreau in New Brunswick. Read the update on this story, published in July by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, HERE.

Here’s some facts Trudeau and Higgs are not sharing:

• One of the projects will extract plutonium at Point Lepreau that can be used to make nuclear weapons, say US nuclear experts.
• The waste from the new reactors will be MORE radioactive per kilo than the existing waste at Point Lepreau. It will be stored next to the Bay of Fundy.
• Building the new reactor sites will create hundreds of tons of radioactive concrete, radioactive steel and other radioactive materials that cannot be recycled. NB taxpayers will be responsible for the disposal costs.

See more information about nuclear energy on this website.

Concerned? Show your support for our Coalition. Join hundreds of New Brunswickers: Sign up, put your name on our website and receive our monthly newsletter. Visit our members page for the list of people and groups in our Coalition and sign-up sheet to become a champion.

The Moltex project is in the news again! A second open letter to the Prime Minister from US non-proliferation experts, saying that the claims of Moltex Energy are misleading. Who to believe? A UK company recently established in Saint John to access public funding for its nuclear project, or US experts with no conflict of interest? The US experts say that the Moltex claims are wrong. The article is in the National Observer today, you can read it HERE.

Today the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists published an article by CRED-NB’s Susan O’Donnell and collaborator Gordon Edwards, president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. The article focuses on the letter sent in May by nine US scientists and non-proliferation experts, countering misleading claims made by Saint John’s Moltex Energy about their proposed project to extract plutonium from used nuclear fuel. You can read the article HERE.

The Conservation Council of New Brunswick (CCNB) published a statement today stating that New Brunswick can achieve 80% renewables by 2030. The statement links to a factsheet.

The statement is responding to the CBC report about the plans by the government of New Brunswick government to keep the Belledune coal-energy plant operating into 2040.

CCNB has created a letter-writing tool to speak out for renewables. Use it to send your letter to the provincial minister of energy Mike Holland, cc to Premier Higgs. It’s at the end of this page.

Metta Spence, a sociologist, has been running the “Project Save the World” for Peace Magazine. They produce a video almost every weekday on YouTube with people discussing different global issues. This week, CRED-NB’s Susan O’Donnell appeared with Metta, M.V. Ramana from the University of British Columbia, and Doug Saunders from the Globe & Mail. Metta titled the video: Is Nuclear Winning? You can view the video here.