New Brunswickers urgently need more affordable, reliable and cleaner electricity as we head into an uncertain future. In response, CRED-NB has developed a plan for electricity generation that includes guideposts and key steps for provincial policy-makers.
Can New Brunswick have cheap, clean, renewable and secure power? In a word, yes!
The details are here.
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.
Canadians are heading to the polls on April 28th, in a moment when we’re facing the human & economic costs of both climate change and the trade war.
Climate Action Network and civil society groups from coast to coast are calling on parties not to sacrifice Canada’s climate progress to Donald Trump’s destructive agenda during this election & beyond.
See Climate Action Network full statement with quotes from civil society by clicking HERE. CRED-NB has signed onto this statement.
Pour le français cliquez ici.
Today, climate-concerned organizations from across Canada published an open letter to Mark Carney, calling on the newly elected Prime Minister-designate to future-proof the Canadian economy by putting forward climate-aligned finance policy.
The letter, signed by 57 organizations and individuals, calls on Canada’s next Prime Minister to make good on his record of inviting financial actors to the climate problem-solving table and take the necessary next step of championing legislation that legally requires their alignment with a stable, climate-safe future ahead of an upcoming federal election.
See full press release HERE.
CRED-NB is a member of Climate Action Network Canada. Today we joined with groups across the country to issue a statement: Ahead of Trump’s tariffs, civil society groups call for a response that puts people first and builds resilience.
Trump’s first weeks in office have been marked by appalling decisions across numerous fronts—from exiting the Paris Agreement, to mass Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and arrests, to attacking trans rights—as well as by the looming spectre of punitive tariffs.
Protecting Canadians during a second Trump administration and its wake will require bold measures from our federal and provincial leaders. But the response from some Canadian politicians so far has been alarming: we have seen increased militarism at the border and scapegoating migrants, backpedalling on climate commitments, and cynical ploys to entrench fossil fuel dependence. Read the full statement HERE.
CRED-NB is co-hosting a webinar and book launch, The Scientists Who Alerted us to the Dangers of Radiation, with the authors Dr. Ian Fairlie and Cindy Folkers.
Thur. Jan. 16, noon – 2 p.m. Atlantic
Register: HERE.
This book reveals that the harmful effects of radiation exposure – especially from the nuclear sector and especially to children – are more pervasive and worse than thought. These have been known for decades but suppressed by politically-motivated censorship and overt disparagement/persecution.
Anyone who ever wondered about radiation or its close relative, radioactivity, should read the book and attend this webinar. It’s timely because several governments are pushing hard for more public exposures to radiation via nuclear power. It explains radiation in easy-to-grasp language which clarifies its dangers and risks.
Webinar co-hosted by: Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA), Nuclear Waste Watch, Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick (CRED-NB), and the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR).
Successive New Brunswick governments have been bewitched by two nuclear fantasies: first, its beleaguered public utility NB Power can connect two experimental reactors to the electricity grid, and second, the small province can successfully run a nuclear power reactor.
Holt plans to re-convene the New Brunswick Legislature before the end of November. At that point the two SMR start-ups will be on life support. The Point Lepreau reactor will still be mothballed with no confirmed start-up date. Each day the reactor is down costs NB Power $1-million or more, threatening the new government’s finances.
Keeping the Point Lepreau and SMR fantasies alive will require considerable effort from the new government. Susan Holt’s handling of the nuclear file will be an early test – both of her leadership and her commitment to wishful thinking.
Read the full commentary by CRED-NB core member Susan O’Donnell in the NB Media Co-op, HERE.
CRED-NB is a signatory with 35 other groups, led by Ecojustice, to a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau asking for a ban on thermal coal exports. Thermal coal is one of the dirtiest fossil fuel contributors to climate change. Coal power generation is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions and one of the first fossil fuels whose use must be phased out.
Ending coal power will also improve the health of millions around the world. Air pollution generated by coal kills more than 800,000 people each year. The extractive origins of thermal coal can also have devastating impacts on lands, waters and local communities, including impacts on Indigenous nations and their inherent rights, including fishing, hunting and gathering.
Read or download the letter HERE.
Representatives from CRED-NB and collaborators across Canada filed a complaint to the federal Competition Bureau under Section 9 of the Competition Act, asking the Bureau to stop the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA) and its members from falsely promoting nuclear energy as “clean” and “non-emitting”.
The complaint demonstrates that claims by the Canadian Nuclear Association and its members are false and misleading because of nuclear energy’s constant emission of large quantities of Group 1 carcinogenic liquids and gases, and its production of toxic radioactive byproducts and wastes which long outlive fuel production and energy generation, burdening current and future generations with safety and health risks.
Read the full complaint (46 pages) here:
https://www.ccnr.org/Competition_Bureau_submission_Oct_15_2024.pdf
The election is October 21, and candidates are making the rounds now. Here’s a good question to ask when they knock on your door:
If elected, will you support a public enquiry on the continued operation of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Station to generate electricity in New Brunswick?
Background:
The Point Lepreau Nuclear Station has frequent and long periods of many months of down time for repairs and maintenance even after the expensive refurbishment which lasted from 2008 to November 2012.
Lepreau is the largest contributor to NB Power’s 5 billion dollar debt (Lepreau’s share is about 4 billion dollars) and the main reason the utility loses money almost every year. To cover these costs, NB Power is planning to increase our electricity rates by 20% in the next 2 years.
The people of New Brunswick must be given an opportunity to decide how our electricity will be generated. This election, let’s talk to potential candidates about holding a public inquiry to decide if New Brunswick should take the big leap forward with renewable energy or stick with nuclear generated electricity and suffer continued huge costs, many problems, unreliability and more radioactive nuclear waste.
