Tag: Other Org Action

CEDAR project: NB Power needs a complete overhaul

CRED-NB Champion, the CEDAR project at St. Thomas University, submitted its critique of NB Power to the NB Power Review team. CEDAR researchers believe NB Power needs a complete overhaul. Key messages:

  • The energy system – climate system connection is missing
  • There is a strong case against nuclear power as a climate-friendly supply option
  • Investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure is “moral and economic madness”
  • Global energy systems are transitioning to renewable energy, and NB Power needs to do the same
  • Renewable energy investments are already signalling the way forward in New Brunswick
  • Customers expect a public electrical utility they can trust; they are getting the opposite.
  • NB Power is frozen in the past. The utility needs a fundamental change of direction.

    Read the full submission HERE.

Latest batch of “nation-building” projects threatens climate and communities

Climate Action Network Canada issued a media release from COP30 negotiations in Belém, Brazil today.

“Canadian civil society is sounding the alarm about the latest batch of “nation building” projects. The major projects list includes the Ksi Lisims LNG terminal, which faces legal challenges from the Lax Kw’alaams Band and the Metlakatla First Nation. Ksi Lisims would be supplied by the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline, which also faces opposition from Indigenous land defenders.”

The new project list also includes the Sisson Mine project. The media release includes a quote from CRED-NB member NBASGA:

Jim Emberger, NB Anti-Shale Gas Alliance:
“Carney could have announced something transformational like the Confederation Bridge or the CN Rail that could have truly changed the lives of people in New Brunswick. People and politicians in New Brunswick and the Atlantic region have been calling for rapid investments in renewable energy, and the grid to support it. Instead, he resurrected a mine that’s been languishing without investment for 15 years, and only because the US Department of War has recently invested in it. So much for elbows up.”

CRED-NB is a member of Climate Action Network Canada. Read the full media release HERE.

A nuclear project with three strikes against it

Prime Minister Carney is giving two billion dollars of taxpayers’ money to a “nation-building” project that already has three strikes against it.

Touted as the western world’s first small modular nuclear reactor, to be built in Ontario, the BWRX is an American design, requiring enriched uranium fuel that must be purchased from a non-Canadian supplier, and is too expensive to be sold abroad. Three strikes.

CRED-NB is a member of the SMRs Information Task Force that publishes monthly bulletins sent to all MPs and MLAs in New Brunswick. Read the November bulletin, A costly way to depend on others, HERE.

Reaction to Budget 2025

After the release of the federal budget on Nov. 4, Climate Action Network Canada issued a statement outlining details of how the government’s new direction tackles the climate crisis. Summary: we are not impressed. The executive director of the national organization said: “We were looking for much-needed clarity on how Ottawa would diversify the economy away from volatile fossil fuels, meet our international climate obligations, and steer Canada towards a safer and more affordable clean energy future. We’re still waiting.“

The statement includes quotes from member climate groups across the country, including CRED-NB. Read the full statement HERE.

Alarm raised on Canada’s climate leadership going into COP30

The G7 Energy and Environment Ministerial concluded in Toronto with no clear progress on raising climate ambition ahead of COP30. Climate Action Network Canada calls this a wasted opportunity for leadership from Canada, and a failure of responsibility from the world’s wealthiest countries. Read the analysis HERE.

CRED-NB is a member of Climate Action Network Canada.

Boosting nuclear power is not nation-building

CRED-NB is a member of the national SMRs Information Task force which produces bilingual monthly bulletins sent to elected officials. The topic of the October bulletin is “Boosting nuclear power is not nation-building.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney has released his priority “nation-building projects,” including the Darlington New Nuclear Project (DNNP) in Ontario. He claims this project will “build Canada strong,” but nuclear power is the slowest, most expensive way of providing electricity, far greater than the costs of renewables and energy storage.

Read the full bulletin, in both official languages, HERE.

Canada’s absence from UN high-level climate summit sows confusion and uncertainty

CRED-NB is an active member of Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac). During the United Nations meetings in New York, CAN-Rac issued a statement on Sept. 24, after Prime Minister Carney withdrew last-minute from the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Summit.

Calling Canada’s action’s “embarrassing,” Caroline Brouillette, Executive Director of Climate Action Network Canada, said: “This absence only sows more confusion and doubt, amid recent uncertainty over whether the federal government is still committed to Canada’s climate targets and to key emissions-reductions policies. Prime Minister Carney and his team need to get their act together and close the gap between words and actions before COP – both at a national and international level. Is Canada in, or out? Climate Action Network Canada and its members are watching.”

October 3 – 80 years of the Nuclear Age: Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki + M.V. Ramana

On Oct. 3 at 3 PM at the Fredericton Public Library: The opening of the poster exhibit: 80 years of the Nuclear Age: Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki will feature a talk by M.V. Ramana, Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the University of British Columbia.

The exhibit, which will run for the month of October, is organized by CRED-NB Champion the CEDAR project in partnership with four departments and programs at St. Thomas University. More info HERE.

Confusion about a second repository for radioactive wastes

CRED-NB is a member of the network that publishes a monthly bulletin about small reactors and related issues. The bulletin is sent to all federal MPs and elected representatives in several provinces, including New Brunswick.

This month the topic is: Confusion About a Second Repository for Radioactive Wastes. In June, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) posted a “discussion paper” outlining their intention to site a second deep geological repository (DGR) for radioactive waste.

The NWMO announcement of an additional DGR has caused confusion. MPs are having trouble keeping the story straight among the various nuclear waste schemes. Read the complete bulletin HERE.