Tag: Fossil

CRED-NB submission to the West Coast Pipeline consultation

CRED-NB made a submission to the Major Projects Office consultation on the proposed West Coast Pipeline. If built, the pipeline would bring even more oil from Alberta’s tar sands to the Pacific coast for export.

In our submission, we wrote that the proposed pipeline will not strengthen Canada’s autonomy, resilience, or security. The pipeline will continue to tie the Canadian economy to fossil fuels, ensuring that we remain vulnerable to market booms and busts, and price shocks as the rest of the world builds domestic energy security by committing to the energy transition.

Read the full document HERE. CRED-NB is one of many member groups of Climate Action Network Canada that is opposing the West Coast Pipeline and all new fossil fuel infrastructure during the climate crisis.

Update on the proposed Tantramar Gas Plant

The NB Media Co-op and The Energy Mix both have the story of the Government of New Brunswick’s recent approval of the proposed gas plant in Tantramar. Here’s the details:

Province approves Tantramar gas/diesel plant with 45 conditions. (August 31). NB Media Co-op story HERE.
The New Brunswick government has approved construction of a 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village subject to 45 conditions that require the U.S. company PROENERGY to monitor air and water quality and submit a net zero greenhouse gas emissions plan after one full year of operation.

New Brunswick Greenlights 500-MW Tantramar Gas Plant, Subject to Conditions. (August 28). The Energy Mix story HERE.
The New Brunswick government on Friday granted conditional approval for a 500-megawatt natural gas plant that officials say is crucial to avoid rolling electricity blackouts within the next two years. The green light comes after the province completed an environmental impact assessment on the project. The government said U.S.-based ProEnergy would need to meet a series of 45 conditions before building and while running the facility.

‘Do your job’: Federal minister pressed to review Centre Village gas plant (August 18). NB Media Co-op story HERE.
The executive director of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute is renewing his call for federal Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin to order a comprehensive review of the proposed 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village. “We’re asking her to do her job,” Barry Rothfuss said on August 13 during a telephone interview. “Right now, we have, in my view, an illegal environmental assessment taking place in the province of New Brunswick,” he added.

NB Power’s proposed gas plant in Tantramar: ‘opposites day’ revisited. (August 6). NB Media Co-op story HERE.
Fans of Sesame Street will recall the iconic video “Opposites Day,” in which Bert and Ernie learn all about opposites. Whatever they do, the reverse is intended. Whatever they say, the opposite is meant. Hilarious for adults, educational for the kids. In a stark example of life imitates art, Tantramar Municipal Council and residents were treated recently to their own version of Opposites Day, as NB Power’s Chief Commercial Officer Brad Coady and his entourage appeared before Municipal Council on July 14. The ostensible purpose? To demonstrate transparency about the proposed 500-megawatt fossil fuel power generation plant for Centre Village in Tantramar, to be built, owned and operated by the American firm PROENERGY. But the result? Obscurity, unintelligibility, obfuscation. Opposites Day indeed.

Shale Gas Fracking in New Brunswick, again?

New Brunswick to Review Fracking Ban Amid U.S. Tariffs, Economic Pressures, Premier Says. (August 26). Story in The Energy Mix HERE.
New Brunswick’s Liberal government is considering whether it should drop its longstanding ban on natural gas fracking, saying it’s looking for ways to boost its economy and secure Canada’s energy independence. Premier Susan Holt announced a public review of the fracking ban on Wednesday, saying she’s looking “at all options” to support economic growth in her province amid Canada’s escalating trade war with the United States.

New Brunswick to review fracking moratorium, prompting pushback from environmentalists. (August 26). Story in the NB Media Co-op HERE. Premier Susan Holt, flanked by two Cabinet ministers, sent a shockwave through New Brunswick’s political landscape Wednesday as she announced a review of the province’s moratorium on shale gas development, with a decision expected in January.

Read all the NB Media Co-op’s stories on fracking from their media archives, HERE.

CRED-NB signs submission to government on Major Projects proposal

CRED-NB, a member of Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac), signed the network’s submission to the federal government on its proposal: Getting Major Projects Built in Canada.

The submission states that streamlining regulatory assessments will not solve the problem of project delays, often caused by economic factors like unstable commodities markets, and will not increase the certainty of a project’s economic benefits. Moreover, dismantling environmental protections at this scale will result in lower public trust and loss of social licence, which will make it harder to build major projects in the long run.

Read the full submission HERE. CRED-NB is a CAN-Rac member.

Indigenous financial stake not essential for Tantramar gas plant: NB Power executive

CRED-NB is a member of the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition that is fighting a proposed fossil gas and diesel plant in Tantramar. NB Power’s agreement with ProEnergy requires the American company to establish “a partnership and consultation with Indigenous communities.” In the latest development about the project, an NB Power executive said an Indigenous partnership is not essential.

Read the article by Bruce Wark in the NB Media Co-op HERE.

Coalition Files Court Challenge to Tantramar Gas Project

The Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC) filed an application for judicial review of the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board’s approval of the proposed Renewable Integration and Grid Security Project (RIGS) in Tantramar.

The EUB approved the project in May that includes a proposed 400-megawatt dual-fuel generating facility and an additional 100-megawatt expansion intended to supply power to Nova Scotia. The project’s capital cost is expected to exceed $1 billion, and if it goes ahead, it will raise electricity rates. This is a story written by Jim Emberger of the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance. Read the full story and download a copy of the PCIC petition on the NBASGA website HERE.

CRED-NB is a member of the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition and NBASGA is a CRED-NB Champion.

Stability will come from investing in clean energy, not uncertain fossil fuel exports

Climate Action Network Canada issued a statement in early July responding to Alberta’s application for a pipeline to the Major Projects Office. In part, the statement includes: “[W]e find ourselves in a treacherous moment of geopolitical instability. But in 2026, stability for our economy, for our communities, and for our planet will come from diversifying not only from an unstable trading partner, but from volatile fossil fuels. The “biblical weather” that delayed the announcement made the point for us: climate change itself is a growing source of instability. Continuing to expand fossil fuel production when Canadians are already living with climate chaos is simply dangerous.”

Read the full statement HERE.

CRED-NB comment on the Holt government’s response to the NB Power Review

In May, the provincial government responded to the NB Power Review report released in March. Of the Review report’s 50 recommendations, the government accepted 44 and identified six for further study. 

Many of the recommendations are intended to improve NB Power’s operations and organizational culture, including governance, oversight, accountability, staffing levels and training. The government assigned most of these improvements to NB Power to implement, with some external assistance. We can only cross our fingers that the same utility that the Review criticized as lacking operational excellence – including basic project management skills – can somehow get it together to improve itself.

The Review report included a bizarre suggestion that buildings heated with baseboard electric heaters should switch to fossil gas furnaces. Thankfully, the government response did not pounce on this opportunity to promote fracking but instead responded by completing an “analysis of the role of natural gas for heating purposes” and developing recommendations “for government consideration.” Fingers crossed again that these will be quietly binned.

The Review report included considerable discussion of NB Power’s nuclear operations, much of it highly critical, yet recommended that the government consider developing a new large nuclear reactor. Remembering that more than half of NB Power’s $6 billion debt is due to Point Lepreau’s refurbishment and ongoing maintenance and outage expenses, this recommendation appears illogical.

At the media event in March to launch its report, the Review panel pointedly recommended against developing SMRs because they carry “a whole set of risks.” 

Considering this clear advice to avoid SMRs, it is interesting that the government response to the new large reactor recommendation is “short-term action” to “evaluate opportunities for new nuclear (SMR and/or conventional).” CRED-NB was hoping that the Review panel’s criticism of SMRs as well as a new report highlighting the failure of Canada’s SMR strategy would mean the end of New Brunswick’s SMR ambitions, but it seems not.

Dr. Gordon Edwards, president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility has used the term “hopium” to describe the irrational belief in the potential of nuclear energy. In a recent post, Dr. Edwards added: “HOPIUM also requires OPM = Other People’s Money.” Our hope is that the government’s evaluation of opportunities for new nuclear will be a learning opportunity about the reasons why nuclear power has no future.

Parliamentary committee publishes report critical of Canada’s emissions reduction plan

Parliament’s Environment Committee published a report critical of the Carney government’s emissions reduction plan. Unusual because the Liberal-dominated committee was critical of its own government and also because the report got no media attention. The committee is headed by Halifax MP Shannon Miedema. You can read the report HERE.