Category: Coalition news

Janice Harvey, representative on CRED-NB for the Environment & Society Program at St. Thomas University, is the author of this commentary in The Hill Times, and republished in the NB Media Co-op, HERE.

CRED-NB is one of 13 New Brunswick groups and 65 other groups across Canada that signed a letter sent to the CEO’s of the six big banks this week. The letter urges the banks to EXCLUDE nuclear from its responsible investment portfolio. The letter is on our home page, and we’re encouraging everyone to download a copy of the letter to your own bank, and send it to your bank manager. More info HERE.

NB Power has applied for a 25 year licence to run the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generation Station (PLNGS) until 2047. The current licence is for five years and expires in June this year.

CRED-NB and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) will be intervening in the upcoming hearing by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to review the NB Power application.

The CNSC hearing period is open now. Click HERE to see how to participate.

Geopolitical events are persuading some governments to re-invest in fossil fuel infrastructure. Jim Emberger from the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance (NBASGA, a CRED-NB core group) wrote a letter in response to a commentary in Brunswick news calling for more fossil fuel extraction in Canada. He writes:

Climate change is happening so rapidly that many plants and animals may not be able to adapt or move in time to survive.  Crop losses due to climate related weather, and diseases due to invasive species, whose expansion is enabled by warmer conditions, are all on the rise.

None of these trends cares a whit about Ukraine, or Canada’s fossil fuel industry. The laws of physics do not respond to political and economic events, nor can you bargain with them.  If we burn more fossil fuels – the climate will warm – period.

Read the letter HERE, on the NBASGA website.

The latest report from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) was published on Feb. 28. The Conservation Council of New Brunswick published a story in the NB Media Co-op with a link to the report, HERE.

Do you know what carbon “lock-in” is, and how it keeps us tied to fossil fuel infrastructure in New Brunswick? If not, check out this video by JP Sapinski, professor of environmental studies at Université de Moncton. The story with the video link was published by the NB Media Co-op, HERE.

The video is Sapinski’s a zoom presentation, hosted by the Environment & Society program at St. Thomas University and the RAVEN project at the University of New Brunswick (both CRED-NB core members).

Today CRED-NB submitted a brief to the Standing Committee of the NB Legislature on climate change and environmental stewardship. Our brief notes that we appreciate the Government’s commitment to moving toward a zero-emissions electricity system while creating economic opportunities. However, we outline why the chosen pathway–backing private companies to develop SMRs–is deeply flawed and will fail to meet these expectations, at great cost to New Brunswickers. Read or download the brief HERE.

CRED-NB submitted to the pre-budget consultation for the New Brunswick government. Our submission addressed one of the consultation questions posed:  What supports need to be put in place to help businesses minimize the economic disruption the pandemic continues to cause? You can read or download our submission HERE.

Gail Wylie represents the Council of Canadians Fredericton chapter on the CRED-NB core group. This week, Gail prepared and submitted a comprehensive review of the governance of nuclear waste in Canada and its impacts on the environment to the Parliamentary committee on nuclear waste management. You can read it HERE.

MPs and groups oppose hearings to license Canada’s first permanent radioactive waste dump

Members of Parliament and 50 environmental and citizen groups -including CRED-NB – are opposed to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC)’s forthcoming hearings to license Canada’s first permanent “disposal” facility for radioactive waste.

A statement calling for suspension of the hearings is signed by three MPs: Laurel Collins, NDP environment critic; Elizabeth May, Parliamentary Leader of the Green Party of Canada; and Monique Pauzé, environment spokesperson for the Bloc Québécois, as well as groups across Canada, including CRED-NB.

On January 31, the Kebaowek First Nation asked that the hearings be halted until a consultation framework between them and the CNSC is in place. The hearings are for authorization to build a “Near Surface Disposal Facility” for nuclear waste at Chalk River, Ontario, on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabeg lands alongside the Ottawa River.

The proposed facility would be an aboveground mound a kilometre from the Ottawa River, upstream from Ottawa and Montréal. 140 municipalities have opposed the project and fear contamination of drinking water and the watershed.

In 2017, the CNSC received 400 submissions responding to its environmental impact statement, the overwhelming majority of them opposed to the plan.