Tag: CRED-NB Action

Proposed Centre Village fossil (natural) gas plant – comments posted

Opposition is building to NB Power’s proposal for a fossil gas plant with diesel storage backup north of Sackville. The utility will sign a long-term power purchase agreement with a U.S. company, PROENERGY, that will build and operate the plant. Stories by Bruce Wark (New Wark Times) about the project are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) was accepting comments on the project description until earlier this week. They are posted on the project registry. 271 comments were submitted (!!) indicating a very high public interest in this project.

The comment submitted to the IAAC by CRED-NB is HERE.

Comments submitted to the IAAC by CRED-NB core members:

Tom McLean – comment is HERE

Sam Arnold, Sustainable Energy Group – comment is HERE

Susan O’Donnell, CEDAR project at STU – comment is HERE

Comments submitted to the IAAC by CRED-NB Champions include:

New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance (NBASGA) – comment is HERE

If you are a CRED-NB Champion and would like us to link to your comment on this blog post, send us an email and your comment number on the IAAC registry.

Get involved – the impact assessment for the proposed fossil gas plant

New Brunswick is proposing to build a new fossil gas plant, which has a lovely but deceptive project name: “Centre Village Renewables Integration and Grid Security Project.” Sounds great right? Don’t be fooled: fossil gas is not needed for grid security or to support variable renewable energy. The plan is to put this plant on Route 940 north of Sackville, near Midgic and Centre Village. Local MLA Megan Mitton has strongly objected to the proposed development.

New Brunswick doesn’t need it. Many storage options exist and new ones are developing rapidly – to provide grid security and pair with wind and solar energy without adding more GHGs to the atmosphere when operating. (Read CRED-NB core member Tom McLean’s article on storage HERE.)

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) posted the notice that comments are open on the initial fossil gas project description summary, HERE. The deadline for your comments is August 13. We encourage everyone to put in a comment – even a simple email will help. CRED-NB will submit a comment.

The IAAC will hold two Public Open Houses

Tuesday, August 12, 2025, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Sackville Music Barn
18 Station Rd.
Tantramar, NB

and

Wednesday, August 13, 2025, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre
182 Main St.
Tantramar, NB

Comments can also be provided during Public Open Houses. IAAC will include all comments in their Public Consultation Report.

If you want to stay informed of the latest updates, we encourage you to sign up for the newsletter of CRED-NB member NBASGA – the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance who are active on this file. Website HERE.

Open letter: 105 groups call on PM Mark Carney to build Canada’s east-west electricity grid with renewable energy

105 environment, labour, Indigenous and community groups, including CRED-NB, released a letter today, July 3, calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal government to prioritize building out Canada’s east-west electricity grid with renewable energy, while upholding workers’ and Indigenous rights. 

The following is a summary of the priorities listed in the letter. The full letter can be found HERE.

  • Commit significant federal funding toward permitting, planning and construction of strategic interprovincial and intra-provincial electricity transmission projects.
  • The Green Budget Coalition, Green Economy Network and Climate Action Network Canada each identify a funding commitment of at least $20 billion over five years while the Canada Electricity Advisory Council recommends significant investment and reducing barriers for these transmission projects.
  • Uphold legal and inherent Indigenous rights for Indigenous communities throughout Canada.
  • Implement key labour supports as a condition for federal funding on electricity projects.
  • Alongside the work on transmission and generation, the federal government should strengthen its financial support for energy efficiency, demand-side management, energy storage and other electricity system upgrades.
  • With these priorities in mind, the federal government should update and implement Canada’s Electricity Strategy. This includes implementing the Clean Electricity Regulations, and continuing to advance Canada’s work to achieve a net-zero electricity grid.

See the press release HERE.

Climate groups react: Bill C-5 becomes law, setting a dangerous precedent

CRED-NB is a member of the Climate Action Network Canada that condemns Parliament’s reckless passage of Bill C-5’s controversial Building Canada Act. The Act erodes democratic principles, runs roughshod over Indigenous rights, shuts Canadians out of decisions that could affect them, and puts the environment at risk.

Bill C-5 sets a dangerous precedent. It gives sweeping and potentially unconstitutional powers to the federal Cabinet to bypass environmental laws and legal safeguards. The Bill allows decisions to be made about “national interest” projects with little public participation, without robust environmental impact assessments, and without the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples.

Read the full media release HERE.

Tariff threats spur need for “east-west” electricity integration

Canada must focus on increasing our energy security.

Unfortunately Ontario is increasing reliance on the U.S. by building four U.S. GE-Hitachi nuclear reactors which require U.S. enriched uranium fuel.

This is not the time to increase our economic and energy dependency on the U.S. Sharing renewable electricity interprovincially can cut that dependency.

As Prime Minister Carney has suggested, Canada can be an energy superpower, but only if we follow the world by focusing on low-cost, reliable renewable energy.

We do not need a power corridor from coast to coast. We need more east-west interconnection of regional and distributed transmission systems. This would allow the growth and sharing of new community-based, low-cost renewable energy, creating local green jobs while meeting Canadian needs.

CRED-NB is a member of the coalition of groups that publish the SMRs Information Task Force Bulletin. This information is from the June 2025 bulletin. Read the full edition HERE.

131 Civil society groups send open letter to PM Carney supporting renewable energy and opposing new nuclear

In a open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, 131 civil society groups expressed support for renewable energy and  opposition to federal investment in new nuclear reactors. Fourteen groups from NB including CRED-NB were among those signing the open letter which was sent on May 21, 2025.

To see the letter click here.

En français, clique ici.

Climate Action Network Canada: Letter to PM Carney and Election Priorities

CRED-NB is a signatory to the Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac) letter to Prime Minister Carney sent the day after the federal election. The letter congratulates Prime Minister Mark Carney and urges him to use this opportunity to build a fairer, more resilient society grounded in reliable, renewable Canadian solutions.

Prime Minister Carney has long been involved in climate initiatives; now, he has the chance to enact change at a national scale to make Canadians’ lives safer, healthier, and more affordable.

Read the full letter HERE.

Before the election, CAN-Rac released Made-in-Canada Climate Solutions: 2025 Election Priorities, setting out its calls to action for federal parties this campaign. See more details here.

Should Mactaquac be replaced by wind power?

The Mactaquac hydroelectric dam 20 km upriver from Fredericton is a major source of electricity in New Brunswick. Although only halfway through its expected life, it requires major refurbishment. Is spending $8.9 billion to fix a 60-year-old power generation station really the best path forward?

NB Power must answer this important question soon. The utility’s decision will impact the future price of electricity and its ability to pay down its crushing debt.

Three considerations are how much electricity the dam generates, the maximum power it can produce, and how “dispatchable” it is. Power is dispatchable if it can be turned on, up, and down as needed.

Mactaquac is an important source of clean, renewable energy. The key question that will impact future energy costs is: how does the cost of refurbishment compare with building a new alternative source of renewable energy generation? An additional consideration: how many new jobs would the alternative create in New Brunswick?

To read more click HERE.

Tom McLean is a member of the Core Group of the Coalition of Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick (CRED NB) which is developing a strategy for affordable renewable electricity supply in New Brunswick.