UPDATE: Nova Scotia signs up to buy power from Tantramar gas plant

Posted on February 3, 2026 by brucewark

PCIC’s Barry Rothfuss interviewed by CBC reporter Erica Butler

This article was updated on February 4, 2026 to include NB Power’s responses to a series of questions. (See below)

Members of the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC) are reacting with anger and disbelief after NB Power filed new documents yesterday outlining significant changes to its plans for a 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village.

“They’re throwing a wrench into the whole process,” says PCIC co-founder Barry Rothfuss.

He was referring to Energy & Utilities Board (EUB) hearings on the gas plant project that were set to begin next week.

“They have not been transparent in any of this,” Rothfuss says, adding that NB Power argued it needed EUB approval for the project by April 2nd or the American company PROENERGY and its subsidiary WattBridge would cancel the contract to supply, install and operate 8-10 gas turbines for 25 years.

NB Power’s newly filed documents reveal that its board of directors approved a new June 2nd deadline in mid-December. And three months before that, the board authorized management to enter into an agreement to sell 100 MW of electricity from the gas plant to Nova Scotia.

“I always had the feeling this artificial deadline of April 2nd was nonsense,” Rothfuss says.

He adds that he suspects NB Power filed the documents showing the sale of power to Nova Scotia as a way of persuading the EUB that the gas plant makes financial sense.

“These are the games that they’re playing with the numbers,” he says. “I think they realized their numbers didn’t add up.”

NS deal

The heavily redacted or blacked out documents appear to outline amendments to the contract with the U.S. company PROENERGY/WattBridge for the building, installation and operation of  10 gas turbines — eight to supply 400 MW to NB Power and now, two more to produce 100 MW for Nova Scotia’s Independent Energy System Operator (IESO).

The non-profit IESO announced yesterday it had signed a “term sheet” that would give Nova Scotia an option to buy 100 MW from the Centre Village gas plant for a 10-year term once a final agreement is reached.

Meantime, the EUB has now removed the new NB Power documents from its website because they were filed after the deadline to submit evidence.

It will now be up to NB Power to file a motion by noon on Thursday asking the EUB for permission to file its additional evidence.

If it does that, the EUB will hold a hearing on Friday morning that would allow interveners to comment. If the EUB does allow the utility to file additional evidence, next week’s hearings could be delayed to give other parties, such as the public intervener, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick and the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition, time to prepare their responses.

NB Power responds

Warktimes e-mailed a series of questions to NB Power on February 3rd. NB Power responded on February 4th. Questions are in bold type with NB Power’s answers in italics:

1. Why is NB Power filing these documents less than a week before EUB hearings were set to begin on February 9th?

The Renewables Integration and Grid Security (RIGS) Project was always a 500 MW project, and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) identified it as such. In documents supplied to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board (NBEUB) in October we indicated a partnership opportunity with a third party was being pursued, and we only recently reached an agreement with IESO Nova Scotia.

2.  How does NB Power respond to the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC), which is an intervener in the EUB hearings, when it calls this “a non-transparent, last-minute attempt to keep the proposed RIGS gas plant approval afloat — at the expense of fairness, due process, and public accountability?”

The hearing is an important part of the independent regulatory process, and next week we will be answering questions from interested parties. NB Power will continue to respect the regulatory process, and the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board’s (NBEUB) commitment to ensuring a fair process is followed to determine the rates New Brunswickers pay for power. 

We welcome the opportunity to explain the business case to support the development of this essential project in an open and transparent forum. These agreements do not change the 500 MW project that was filed with the NBEUB.

3. How does NB Power respond to PCIC’s claim that the NB Power filing came after the EUB processes were complete rather than being disclosed openly and in a timely manner?

The Renewables Integration and Grid Security (RIGS) Project was always a 500 MW project, and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) identified it as such. In documents supplied to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board in October we indicated a partnership opportunity with a third party, and we recently reached an agreement with IESO Nova Scotia.

4. How does NB Power respond to the PCIC’s contention that interveners have now been confronted with documents that fundamentally alter the RIGS project and that NB Power rushed the hearing process with an April 2nd deadline only to now reveal that it knew in December that its has secured an extension of its contract with PROENERGY until June 2nd.

This matter will be discussed next week during the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board hearings.  

5. How does NB Power respond to the following statement from PCIC: “Interveners argue that this pattern reflects a troubling lack of transparency and respect for the regulatory process — one in which key deals are negotiated behind closed doors and revealed only when earlier assumptions and evidence are increasingly called into question?”

(In effect, PCIC is saying that the numbers weren’t working for the tolling agreement involving 400 MWs and now, at the last minute, NB Power seeks to sway the EUB with amended figures involving the sale of an extra 100 MWs to make the RIGS project more financially viable.)

The Renewables Integration and Grid Security (RIGS) Project was always a 500 MW project, and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) identified it as such. In documents supplied to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board (NBEUB) in October we indicated a partnership opportunity with a third party was being pursued, and we recently reached an agreement with IESO Nova Scotia and provided updated documents to the NBEUB to be transparent. NB Power respects the regulatory process and timelines, and the NBEUB’s commitment to ensuring a fair process is followed to determine the rates New Brunswickers pay for power. 

To read NB Power’s summary of its additional evidence, click here.

To read a news release from the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition, click here.

Posted in NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Serious health concerns, lack of consultation: AWI founder slams NB Power’s proposed Isthmus gas plant

Posted on January 31, 2026 by brucewark

Barry Rothfuss of AWI and the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC)

Barry Rothfuss fought back tears during an interview at the Atlantic Wildlife Institute (AWI) on Friday.

“I’m sorry, it shouldn’t be this hard. I was awake in the night trying to decide whether to tell you this,” he said as he struggled with his emotions.

Rothfuss is executive director of AWI and co-founder of the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC) that is fighting against NB Power’s plans for a 500 MW gas/diesel generating plant near Centre Village.

“I was born with a heart defect, a bicuspid aortic valve,” he says and, after another long pause, he describes how, in 2013, he was hired to investigate the deaths of  7,500 migratory songbirds that flew into a burning gas flare at the Canaport LNG facility in Saint John.

He was there because AWI is the only organization in Atlantic Canada certified to deal with threats to wildlife and to suggest ways of mitigating damage when it occurs.

“I was responding to an event where I was trying to do good,” he says, adding that during his investigation he was exposed to particulate matter from the burning gas.

“My heart was susceptible to that pollutant,” he says. “It had a direct impact on the functioning of my heart. I now have to live with heart failure.”

Rothfuss takes several prescription drugs to keep him alive.

“Now, I’m having a gas plant brought to my backyard,” he says. “It’s not just me. It’s anybody out there who has similar types of health conditions, and particularly elderly people.”

He says if the gas plant is built only 4.5 kilometres from AWI, he will have to shut the place down.

“Again, the issue isn’t just me,” he says. “There are tens of thousands of people who have been exposed to similar types of plants around the world and who are dying from this type of technology being thrust upon them without their ability to discuss it.”

Lack of public consultation

Signs at the site where contractors have removed trees & constructed a road

Rothfuss accuses NB Power and the U.S. company PROENERGY of deliberately bypassing regulations that require public and Indigenous consultation early in the planning stages before a project is designed and before a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIA) is produced.

“All of their internal documents were advising them to consult the community and they ignored it,” he says, adding that the announcement of the gas/diesel plant on July 14th came as a complete surprise to the people in Centre Village, Cookville and Midgic.

“Contracts had already been signed and we had no input,” he says.

“We were left in the dark. We were lied to and, again, literally lied to, at least as far as Indigenous involvement was concerned,” he adds.

He says that the government issued permits enabling PROENERGY to build a road to the site.

“Permits to go in and clear trees before any of this was discussed, to destroy habitat before any of our concerns were addressed,” he says.

Rothfuss points out that neither NB Power nor PROENERGY  have used the words “Chignecto Isthmus” in their public communications.

“They won’t define this as a critical, environmentally sensitive zone within not only New Brunswick, but within the country,” he says.

“Not defined by me, but defined by a multitude of professional scientists and environmentalists and governments that have defined the importance of this particular location as being one of the most ecologically sensitive in the country. And yet we ignore that through this whole process.”

Scare tactics

Sears Sanctuary sign at wilderness property that Sackville journalist Wallie Sears & his family donated to AWI. The 160-acre property is 1.5 km from proposed gas plant site

Rothfuss also accuses NB Power of using scare tactics by warning that New Brunswickers will face power blackouts if the Centre Village plant isn’t built by 2028 and then of trying to escape regulatory scrutiny by the Energy and Utilities Board.

When that failed, he says, NB Power warned that PROENERGY would cancel the contract to build the plant if the EUB doesn’t approve it by April 1st.

“Everybody’s running around on their side of the table like Chicken Little saying that this is going to be the end of the world basically with this grid failure,” Rothfuss says “and yet we’ve never had the ability to sit down at the table at the appropriate times to discuss any alternatives to this project.

“We’ve been forced into an answer that we don’t find is in our community’s best interest, in New Brunswick’s best interest, and we’re told that we just have to swallow it and sit back and accept it,” he says, adding that as a publicly owned crown corporation, NB Power should be willing to address public concerns.

“The politics here is not giving us a fair shot to express our concerns and protect our interests,” he says.

NB Power responds

On Thursday, Warktimes e-mailed NB Power a series of questions based on the main points that Barry Rothfuss had raised in a preliminary telephone interview. NB Power responded with these answers (in italics) the next day referring to the proposed gas/diesel plant as the Renewables Integration Grid Security (RIGS) Project:

Question 1(a) The Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition argue the proposed project is an example of “regulatory bypass” because everything from site selection on was done without proper community input. The PCIC says that site selection itself should have been part of an Environmental Impact Assessment process in which the affected community had an opportunity for input. Instead, the site selection process was already complete when NB Power announced the project on July 14.

NB Power’s response: NB Power takes its regulatory obligations seriously and follows the established provincial processes for all major infrastructure projects. Under New Brunswick’s legislation, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) evaluates a proposed project after a preferred site has been identified. This is standard practice for large energy and industrial projects across the province. The purpose of the EIA is to assess environmental impacts, gather public input, and ensure appropriate mitigation measures are in place, not to determine which site should be chosen.

We value openness and transparency, and we understand the importance of involving and engaging the community. We will continue to address concerns and answer questions from community members throughout the EIA process. 

1(b) NB Power asked the EUB whether this qualified as a capital project and that delayed the EUB hearing on it and thereby jeopardized the contract with PROENERGY because of the April 1st deadline. The PCIC says this has created a situation where the regulator knows it has a deadline while NB Power continues to argue that unless this project is in operation by 2028, New Brunswickers could face the prospect of a utility that runs out of power with ensuing rolling blackouts. The PCIC says this is an example of creating a crisis atmosphere in order to push the project through without any attempt to gain “social license” for it first.

NB Power followed the required regulatory steps for the Renewables Integration Grid Security (RIGS) Project, including asking the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board (NBEUB) to confirm whether RIGS qualified as a capital project under the Electricity Act. This step was taken to ensure full compliance. The timelines for the NBEUB review were factored into the original project schedule.

The province faces a significant electricity shortfall beginning in 2028, and RIGS is designed to ensure New Brunswickers have the firm capacity required to avoid reliability risks while we add more renewables to our grid. It is important to us at NB Power to be transparent about the energy security challenges the province is facing.

2. The PCIC says that as a Crown Corporation, NB Power has a duty to take the interests of all ratepayers into consideration including community members most affected by the gas plant. They accuse NB Power of practising “bad politics” by placing industrial interests ahead of community interests.

As a Crown corporation, NB Power’s responsibility is to act in the best interests of all New Brunswickers. That means balancing affordability, environmental considerations, and reliability across the entire province, prioritizing all customer groups equally. The RIGS project was proposed because New Brunswick faces a province‑wide electricity shortfall beginning in 2028, and new firm capacity is essential to keep homes and businesses powered.

Our mandate is to ensure safe, reliable electricity for everyone, today and into the future, and to do so through open and accountable regulatory processes and being transparent about our needs and risks.

3. The PCIC says NB Power has not been honest in its claims of Indigenous support for the project.

We are committed to a respectful and transparent relationship with Indigenous communities and recognize the importance of meaningful engagement. As PROENERGY is the proponent for this project, specific questions regarding their Indigenous engagement and support should be directed to them.

4. Finally, the PCIC says NB Power never uses the term “Chignecto Isthmus” and this fudges the issue of environmental effects in an internationally recognized fragile eco-system.

NB Power understands and acknowledges the environmental importance of the Chignecto Isthmus, and the environmental characteristics of the Project will be fully assessed through the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process.

Posted in NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 8 Comments

NB Power seeks permission to raise rates before it proves its case

Posted on January 26, 2026 by brucewark

by: John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. Source: Telegraph-Journal 
January 25, 2026

NB Power is applying for special permission to immediately push up rates on April 1st by 4.75%, a move that would add close to $130 to average yearly household bills.

Normally, the public utility would have to wait for the provincial regulator, the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board, to review its arguments for a rate increase. As a quasi-judicial body, the EUB ultimately decides NB Power’s rates.

But NB Power says it must seek special approval for an interim measure otherwise its finances will be shot.

It promises to credit more than 400,000 customers if the board makes the highly unlikely decision to reject the rate hike altogether, or more realistically, shaves the request a bit, as it has done in previous years.

Rates have already gone up by 23% over the last three years, causing an outcry from the public, anti-poverty groups and businesses.

Most people in New Brunswick heat primarily with electricity, and bills can already range between $1,800 and $5,000 a year or more, depending on the size of a house, the type of insulation it has, and the heating system.

NB Power filed its general rate application in October. The latest application seeks an interim rate increase starting April 1, 2026, or, failing that, NB Power requests that it may recover any financial losses caused by a delay in introducing new rates after April over the remainder of fiscal year once the decision has been made on the general rate application.

Tantramar gas plant hearing

The utility says it was forced to ask for the measure because NB Power and the EUB will be tied up with hearings on its proposed 500 MW gas/diesel plant on the Chignecto Isthmus.

Those public hearings are scheduled from February 9 to 13 at the Delta Beausejour hotel in Moncton.

Meantime, the hearings for the general rate application are expected to begin in March. They often take several weeks, and the board typically takes months to make a final decision.

NB Power says if the final approved rate is lower than the interim rate, customers’ bills will be adjusted as required by the board.

If the alternative motion is approved, NB Power will recover the money lost due to the delay in setting new rates through a separate charge. This charge would only be applied after the board rules on the final rate and would be in place only until March 31, 2027.

NB Power says the rate increase would raise monthly bills by $10.90 a month for the average residential customer using 1,350 kWh of electricity over a month.

Note: NB Power announced its application for special permission to increase rates immediately in a two-part news release issued last week. The first part says the utility is seeking permission to spend more than $50 million on a major capital project at the Point Lepreau nuclear station after it has already completed the work. To read the release, click here.

This story was written by John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for Brunswick News.

Posted in LJI stories, NB Power | Tagged | 5 Comments

Lower our crushing electricity bills, public tells expert panel

Posted on January 25, 2026 by brucewark

By: John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Source: The Daily Gleaner
January 24, 2026

Review panel member Michael Bernstein. Photo: Government of New Brunswick

People have told an NB Power review team their biggest concern with New Brunswick’s public utility is unaffordable electricity bills that keep going up.

Last March, the Holt Liberal government appointed a trio of experts to conduct a comprehensive review of NB Power in light of several mounting problems facing the province’s 106-year-old monopoly electricity provider.

Last week, nine months in, the review team released a 25-page report, “What We Heard,” summing up public feedback.

Not surprisingly, New Brunswickers are upset about rate shock.

“Affordability is a key issue, whether it’s electricity or housing or groceries, and particularly when we’ve had now two years in a row in New Brunswick of close to 10% rate increases,” said Michael Bernstein, one of the panel experts, in an interview.

“People are very concerned. And you add to that the fact that heating is primarily done through electricity, and therefore from a pocketbook perspective, higher electricity prices really do have an impact on people’s financial situation,” he said.

“We heard that loud and clear.”

‘When will increases end?’

It was the number one issue from about 4,000 respondents in all forms of feedback ranging from in-person and virtual sessions, one-on-one meetings, survey responses, written submissions and e-mail inquiries.

“Many participants expressed deep worry over the possibility of rising electricity costs, noting that recent increases far outpace inflation and wage growth and risk making heat inaccessible,” the panel’s report says.

Review panel member Duncan Hawthorne. Photo: Government of New Brunswick

“Questions such as ‘When will the increases end?’ and ‘Where are power rates going in the next three to five years?’ were common, underscoring widespread anxiety about long-term affordability,” the report adds.

NB Power has jumped rates 23% for its 400,000 residential and business customers over the last three years.

It also plans to hike them 4.75%  higher this April with further increases in the next several years that will likely exceed the rate of inflation.

This has led to dismay. Anti-poverty activists say the price hike is an attack against the most vulnerable, and businesses argue it’s forcing them to make hard choices, such as layoffs at the Irving Paper mill in Saint John, which handed out pink slips to half of its staff last January.

Gov’t meddling

NB Power executives, including CEO Lori Clark, say government meddling with rates over the last dozen years or so has meant electricity prices haven’t kept up with inflation. They also point to high debt costs, badly aging infrastructure and increased demand for electricity as reasons people must pay more for the power they receive.

That has not taken the rough edge off the bills.

And yet, Bernstein knows there’s little his panel can do to lower rates. As an experienced executive in the Canadian power and infrastructure sector, and a senior advisor with the Boston Consulting Group, he knows NB Power needs more money.

He admitted when the panel talked about “mitigating” rates rather than “lowering ” them, people were disappointed.

“The reality is there’s no kind of reasonable scenario in which our rates are going lower, and that’s not just for New Brunswick, that’s globally, that’s across Canada. If you’ve been following what’s happening in the U.S., it is more expensive to produce electricity and electricity demand is going up.”

Nuclear power

Review panel member Anne Bertrand. Photo: Government of New Brunswick

The review panel, which includes nuclear expert Duncan Hawthorne and governance guru Anne Bertrand, heard from a wide variety of people. As one would expect, some of the advice was contradictory.

“Nuclear energy and small modular reactors (SMRs) sparked intense debate,” their “What We Heard” report says.

“Supporters argued that nuclear is essential for reliability and cost stability, pointing to Point Lepreau’s role in the current system,” it adds.

“Opponents countered with concerns about the true environmental impact, safety, radioactive waste, and financial risk and warned against repeating past mistakes.”

A note from the review panel appears to defend nuclear power.

“Nuclear energy has been designated by the Canadian government and many international organizations as a clean energy source,” their note says.

“While opinions may vary, we feel it is important to recognize this designation as it is a non-emitting resource.”

Fossil fuels

The report also mentions opposition to the proposed gas/diesel plant in Tantramar.

“Similarly, fossil fuel projects — particularly the proposed Tantramar gas plant — drew criticism from those who see them as outdated and incompatible with climate goals,” it says.

“A few participants defended natural gas as a transitional option, but this view was far less common.

“Secondary to the conversation around renewable energy, participants repeatedly emphasized the need to keep climate change and social equity at the heart of decision-making,” the report says.

“Many noted that energy poverty and affordability are inseparable from environmental goals, urging decision-makers to ensure that net-zero commitments do not come at the expense of vulnerable communities.”

The review panel itself seems to warn against adopting wind and solar alternatives at “massive scale” as many people urged.

“There was also the view that since there are no fuel costs associated with these green technologies, this would be the cheapest option for New Brunswick,” they write, adding that although the panel does acknowledge the benefits of green technologies, building them would incur significant capital costs.

“It is also the case that New Brunswick has very high electrical demand in the cold winter months and therefore wind and solar technologies, without some form of long duration storage or other back-up power, would not provide the reliability New Brunswickers require,” they write.

Final recommendations

The experts will provide the provincial government with their recommendations in March.

Bernstein said there will be a lot in that final report to chew over. It will include what he called high-level thematic items covering governance, legislative and regulatory reforms to help modernize NB Power.

“But we’re also diving into some more detailed perspectives of things… that can make a difference. So some quick wins,” he added.

To read the “What We Heard” report, click here.

To read Erica Butler’s CBC story on the “What We Heard” report including panel member Michael Bernstein’s comments about the current viability of battery storage to back up renewables, click here.

This story was written by Local Journalism Initiative Reporter John Chilibeck of Brunswick News with additional files from Bruce Wark.

Posted in climate change, LJI stories, NB Power, Town of Sackville | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

NB Power says it will have enough electricity for brutal cold snap

Posted on January 24, 2026 by brucewark

by John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. Source: The Daily Gleaner
January 23, 2026

Nicole Poirier, NB Power vice president, customer & strategy. Photo: NB Power

NB Power is bracing for the cold snap that’s going to put New Brunswick into a deep freeze on Saturday.

Nicole Poirier, the vice president of customer and strategy with the electricity provider, gave an update Friday afternoon to reporters.

She said her organization had taken steps to ensure the heat and lights stay on for the province’s 868,000 people.

“Right now, we are confident that we’re able to meet the load requirements over the weekend,” she said on a Teams call.

“From a wind perspective, we don’t see any issues. The cold temperatures obviously will put pressure on the system. It is definitely a cold snap anywhere between -35 to -40. But we have a diverse asset mix of generation. We have hydro, we have wind, we have nuclear on our system, and we have other sources as well.”

There is reason for concern.

NB Power set a record for energy consumption on Feb. 4, 2023, as wind chills plunged to –40. Officials have said since then that the utility had come awfully close to running out of power.

And in a column written by NB Power CEO Lori Clark, published in the Telegraph-Journal Jan. 12, she said the utility came “close, too close” to running out of electricity in early December when the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station near Saint John broke down unexpectedly, just when the season’s first cold snap hit the region.

The plant, which can provide up to one-third of the province’s electricity, is back up and running.

Weather warning

Environment Canada posted a yellow cold warning for the entire province and Prince Edward Island at 10:23 a.m. on Friday. Such cold warnings are issued when temperatures or wind chills elevate the risk of frostbite or hypothermia.

The federal weather forecaster says a prolonged period of very cold wind chills is expected, lasting from Saturday morning to Sunday morning. The coldest wind chills will make it feel like -30 to –37 C. It will be the coldest in northwestern areas of the province.

Fredericton’s wind chill is expected to be –34 Saturday, while Moncton will feel as cold as –33. Saint John will have a wind chill of –30.

Edmundston and Campbellton will really feel it at –36 on Saturday morning, while Bathurst and Miramichi can bet on a –34 windchill.

Outside purchases

Poirier said as long as all NB Power’s plants keep running through the weekend, it shouldn’t have any trouble.

“We actually run different scenarios throughout the week, running up to an event like this,” she said. “We would look at all our generation assets, the condition of our fleet, what we need from a load perspective, to ensure that we meet the load requirements.

“If something were to happen to one of our assets, we may be required to purchase outside, but we don’t see that right now, other than our normal purchases that we would make through Hydro-Québec.”

NB Power CEO Lori Clark testifying at the legislature’s public accounts committee last fall

Asked for comment about Clark’s column, NB Power spokeswoman Elizabeth Fraser said earlier this week her team “works hard every day to ensure NB Power customers continued to receive the electricity they depend on to go about their daily lives.”

She noted that the column highlighted the challenges NB Power faced when the Point Lepreau and Saint John’s Bayside generating stations were offline.

“These issues were compounded by lower-than-expected power transfers from Quebec and reduced water flows on the St. John River, which limited hydroelectric output,” she wrote to Brunswick News.

“To maintain reliability, NB Power operated more expensive generating stations: Coleson Cove and Millbank – and purchased additional power from New England.”

Gas/diesel plant

NB Power officials have said they are in a rush to build a new gas/diesel plant generator in Tantramar because they expect to run out of enough electricity by 2028.

However, Alain Chiasson, the public intervener hired by the province to represent the public interest, plans to oppose the new gas/diesel plant at Energy & Utilities Board hearings next month in Moncton.

One of his experts, Jeffrey Palermo, has filed EUB testimony suggesting that NB Power’s forecasts are wrong and the utility does not need electricity from the gas/diesel plant known as the RIGS project.

“The most recent Maritimes Area resource adequacy study shows that NB Power has enough resources available without the RIGS generation to meet or exceed its planning requirements through 2030,” he states in a 47-page document available on the EUB website.

To read previous coverage of Palermo’s testimony, click here.

This story was written by Local Journalism Initiative reporter John Chilibeck of Brunswick News with additional files from Bruce Wark.

Posted in LJI stories, NB Power | Tagged | 1 Comment

U.S. company promised cheaper, gas/diesel turbines with $172M in ‘economic uplift’

Posted on January 21, 2026 by brucewark

Councillor Josh Goguen

The company NB Power chose to build a 500 MW gas/diesel generating plant on the Chignecto Isthmus promised to supply  its PE6000 jet engine turbines at a lower cost than its competitors’ turbines while minimizing the time needed for construction by using a modular power-plant concept known as PowerFLX.

“Through standardization, the PowerFLX solution eliminates variability, dramatically decreases costs through economies of scale, and allows for accelerated installation,” the U.S. company WattBridge, a subsidiary of PROENERGY, said in a document it submitted to NB Power on August 8, 2024 in response to the utility’s request for expressions of interest.

“This plant design has been used in more than 65 package installations for WattBridge and other parties since 2021,” the company states, adding that the engineering, procurement and construction phases of the project would contribute more than $172 million in “economic uplift” to local and surrounding areas.

The document was one of several released in response to a right to information request filed in October by Tantramar Councillor Josh Goguen.

He made his request after PROENERGY Canada President John MacIsaac told members of council they should “fact check” his statements that the North Shore Mi’kmaq Tribal Council had invested in the gas plant project.

Documents that NB Power released in early November to Warktimes and that are also included in the latest package sent to Councillor Goguen, do not support MacIsaac’s claim that the Mi’kmaq had agreed to invest in the plant.

The documents do show, however, that Indigenous investment was possible and legal steps were taken to make it happen although the Chiefs of the nine Mi’gmaq First Nations have said since that the project can’t go ahead until it undergoes a rigorous, Mi’gmaq-led, rights impact assessment.

Two plants?

PE6000 aereoderivative gas turbine. Photo: WattBridge

NB Power’s request for expressions of interest says it is seeking proposals for a 400 MW gas/diesel plant “with option to expand at a single plant site,” an apparent reference to an additional 100 MW that the utility has since said it will sell to an unidentified customer to help reduce costs.

WattBridge’s proposal in 2024, however, mentions “two phases of 400 MW each” but the locations of the two plants are blacked out.

During a public meeting last week in Sackville, NB Power VP Brad Coady explained that the utility is planning for a 600 MW plant in the Scoudouc Industrial Park just in case it’s needed in the years ahead.

“I commit to you right now there are no plans for future expansion of the Tantramar site,” he promised. “It’s a 500 MW site.”

To read the batch of heavily-redacted documents from NB Power, click here.

Posted in economic development, NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

‘Dumb Old Utility Guys’ are pushing 500 MW gas plant ‘boondoggle’ on the Isthmus

Posted on January 19, 2026 by brucewark

Darcie Lanthier of the PEI co-op Energy Democracy Now

Darcie Lanthier, director of the Energy Democracy Now Co-Operative on Prince Edward Island, says her group is organizing a province-wide fight against two PROENERGY diesel-burning turbines that the privately-owned utility Maritime Electric wants installed in Charlottetown.

During a lively meeting in Moncton on Saturday jointly organized by Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition and the New Brunswick chapter of the social and economic justice group ACORN Canada, Lanthier praised those fighting against NB Power’s proposed 500 MW gas plant on the Chignecto Isthmus.

“Kudos to all of you for being here and for this magnificent effort,” she said.

“And the question I keep hearing here is so interesting,” Lanthier said.

“Why are they doing this? Why are they so stubborn, so locked in the past? And the answer is because they’re all DOUGS. They’re Dumb Old Utility Guys, and this is the way they’ve always done it, and this is the way they’re always going to do it.”

Lanthier said the Canadian company NRStor Inc. has made cost-effective proposals for both PEI and New Brunswick to install battery and energy storage systems

“NRStore almost always works with an Indigenous partner to have 50% ownership in the plant. So you look at Indigenous ownership, you look at, you know, the lack of emissions, it’s much more affordable, [it turns on] perhaps within milliseconds, and it works with every future technology,” she said.

“If I had one piece of advice, I would say ‘label this a boondoggle,'” she added.

“New Brunswickers understand that New Brunswick Power drops readily into boondoggles and are happy to throw your money away on mythical thinking and fictional deals in Florida,” Lanthier said to a round of applause.

“This is a boondoggle kind of story.”

Politics of hope

Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton speaking at a public meeting in Moncton

Earlier in the meeting, Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton said she remembered reading a book on economics called It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way.

“That title stuck with me,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to build a gas plant,” she added.

“It can feel really difficult to have hope, but I’m in politics because I do have hope,” she said, adding it’s a hopeful sign that the public intervener, the lawyer hired to represent the public interest, will be arguing against the proposed gas plant during Energy & Utilities Board hearings next month.

“So, there is a possibility that the Energy & Utilities Board will say this is not prudent, this is not a good idea,” she said.

“We need to keep up the pressure on our premier, on government and on NB Power to say ‘We don’t want this,'” she added.

“We need political pressure because we’re lacking political will in Fredericton aside from the Greens. We need our utility to get with the times.”

Cheaper battery storage

Moe Qureshi of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick

“Some experts are saying that we’re using 20th century technology when it’s the 21st century,” said Moe Qureshi, director of climate research at the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

“Wind and solar and battery technologies are getting cheaper and cheaper every year,” he added, “but oil and gas plants…are getting more expensive.”

He noted that NB Power will be buying gas piped in through the United States at great financial risk.

“Fuel prices are volatile. Who knows what the fuel price is going to be in 2040, right? You can’t even predict it from week to week,” he said.

He referred to the 250 MW Oneida battery storage project in Ontario that cost $700 million, but was supported by federal subsidies and tax credits that came to $100 to $120 million.

Qureshi pointed out that batteries can turn on instantly and because they don’t burn fuel, NB Power could save billions over 25 years.

“We have better and cheaper alternatives available, and the ratepayers deserve better,” he concluded.

Rising power bills

“The gas plant could add 5% to NB Power bills,” said Nichola Taylor, chair of the social justice group NB ACORN, referring to a recent CBC report.

She added that many low-to-moderate income families, the elderly on fixed incomes, single-parent families, renters with no control over the energy efficiency of their homes and First Nations communities already can’t afford to pay their power bills.

Nichola Taylor addressing the meeting as Megan Mitton & Moe Qureshi look on

“New Brunswickers are paying more than they should to heat their homes,” she said. “Two thousand, eight hundred and thirty dollars per year is the average household energy cost in New Brunswick, which is 25% higher than the national average.”

Taylor added that people skip meals and lower their heat to unsafe levels and still fall behind on their bills.

“People who have health conditions, lung, breathing and heart conditions are extremely vulnerable to climate change,” she said, referring to out-of-control wildfires in the Moncton area last summer.

“So, how bad will those fires be if there is a gas plant here?” she asked.

“A gas plant burning fossil fuels, polluting our air, polluting our water, is putting us all at risk,” she said.

“ACORN says no to funding the oil industry while we bear the burden. ACORN says no to ever-increasing bills. ACORN says no to dirty energy. ACORN says no to subsidies for the big businesses while people are starving, freezing in winter and overheating in summer in their own homes. ACORN says no to the pro-Trump, PROENERGY, gas plant.”

Posted in climate change, NB Power, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Public Intervener plans to oppose Centre Village gas plant at EUB hearings

Posted on January 16, 2026 by brucewark

Gas plant image from EUB documents filed by NB Power

The lawyer appointed by the province to represent the public interest at the Energy & Utilities Board is planning to oppose NB Power’s proposed 500 MW gas/diesel plant near Centre Village during EUB hearings next month in Moncton.

“We’ve formed an opinion and we’re not really for this plant,” Alain Chiasson, the public intervener for the energy sector, told John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with Brunswick News.

“We believe NB Power hasn’t looked through the alternatives enough,” he added. “For instance, this could have been done with large batteries instead of a gas plant. Our experts are not in agreement with what NB Power is proposing.”

One of those experts, Jeffrey Palermo of PJP Consulting based in Boca Raton, Florida, has filed EUB testimony suggesting that NB Power’s forecasts are wrong and the utility does not need electricity from the gas/diesel plant, known as the RIGS project.

“The most recent Maritimes Area resource adequacy study shows that NB Power has enough resources available without the RIGS generation to meet or exceed its planning requirements through 2030,” he states in a 47-page document available on the EUB website.

“The RIGS project cannot be justified by regional planning criteria and studies,” he adds.

“Delaying NB Power’s planned 111 MW net generating capacity reductions until 2029 will provide more time to develop better alternatives and long-term solutions.”

Palermo says that NB Power has “summarily dismissed” battery energy storage systems (BESS) as an alternative that he says “would be more flexible, provide additional benefits beyond those offered by the RIGS project and could result in lower costs for New Brunswick customers.”

Gas plant in Scoudouc?

Meantime, documents that NB Power has filed with the EUB show that although Centre Village was the utility’s first choice for the gas/diesel plant, it is still considering property it purchased in the Scoudouc Industrial Park as the site for a second, 600 MW facility sometime in the future.

NB Power VP Brad Coady confirmed during a public meeting in Sackville on Wednesday that the utility plans to continue work on the Scoudouc site.

“We are trying to avoid another 600 MW combustion turbine,” he said, but suggested that NB Power needs to plan for it in case it’s needed.

A briefing note for NB Power’s Strategic Executive Oversight Committee (SEOC) dated May 26, 2025, explains why the Centre Village site is a better choice mainly because a gas plant could be built more quickly there, but suggests that communication with local residents would be important.

“There is potential for opposition to development of either site and prudent planning and communications will help mitigate that risk,” the briefing note states.

“Early, proactive, and clear communication and demonstration of intentions to mitigate impacts on local communities and the environment are preferred. This approach is particularly important in the case of the Centre Village site given the differences in how nearby land is currently being used.”

To read the NB Power briefing note, click here.

To read consultant Jeffrey Palermo’s EUB testimony, click here.

—with files from John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Brunswick News.

Posted in LJI stories, NB Power | Tagged , | 1 Comment

NB Power defends plans for Isthmus gas plant in the face of overwhelming community opposition

Posted on January 15, 2026 by brucewark


About 170 people attended a public gathering on the Mount Allison University campus Wednesday evening as New Brunswick Power fielded questions about the proposed 500 MW gas/diesel generating plant on the ecologically sensitive Chignecto Isthmus.

Doug Bliss, chair of Tantramar council’s Climate Change Advisory Committee which organized the meeting, asked pointedly about the overwhelming public opposition to the project that NB Power refers to as RIGS.

CCAC Chair Doug Bliss

“Given what you know about our home and the opposition of our people to this fossil-fuel- burning gas turbine plant,” Bliss asked, “can you tell us how social licence or public support fits into your decision-making process and whether public support or lack of it can change the course of the RIGS gas turbine project?”

“Of course social licence matters,” NB Power Vice President Brad Coady answered before making it clear that the provincial utility considers Centre Village to be the best site for a project that he said is needed to help integrate intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar while preventing grid blackouts because of electricity shortages.

“I cannot maintain energy security and bring the project to a different location,” Coady added, referring to his earlier comments about the threat of blackouts.

“Bad things happen when we have those blackouts,” he said. “People are very upset and distraught, it’s not a good place to be.”

Global warming

Penny Mott, Seniors for Climate Tantramar

“When it is operating, does a 500 MW gas-powered plant emit harmful local air pollution and generate greenhouse gases contributing to the warming of the planet?” asked Penny Mott, a member of the group Seniors for Climate Tantramar.”

Yes or no?” she added.

“I think the answer is no on the harmful side,” Coady answered, adding that although carbon dioxide emissions are warming the planet, the gas itself isn’t a poison.

Coady also explained that the natural-gas-burning plant would reduce NB Power’s reliance on heavy-oil-burning facilities such as Coleson Cove while helping the utility reach its goal of “net zero” carbon emissions by 2035.

NB Power VP Brad Coady

“Methane is terrible for the climate,” Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton told Coady. “The data is showing that batteries with solar or wind cost less than doing this,” she said.

“So why not choose the less costly option that doesn’t burn fracked gas and pollute our air and make us sick and increase the risk of Alzheimer’s and asthma and miscarriages, among many other things?” Mitton asked.

“I accept that the [battery] prices have come down,” Coady answered. “That’s why we issued another solicitation before Christmas to say let’s go back and sound the market,” he added, but he continued to argue that batteries would be “a more expensive solution than we’re proposing with the RIGS project.”

AI data centres

“I’m a Sackville resident from a family that carries a fatal genetic lung disease, pulmonary fibrosis, which is triggered by poor air quality,” said Shary Boyle.

She added that the Trump administration has merged with Big Tech to push ecologically destructive AI data centres powered by gas turbines.

Sackville resident Shary
Boyle

“Recent reporting by CBC shows that a proposed data centre in Lorneville, Saint John could require almost half the electricity the Tantramar plant is meant to supply,” Boyle said.

“This is not a surge for people, this is a surge for AI.”

Her reference to AI came up again later with two other questions that were submitted in writing.

“Is this new energy facility to generate power to be used for AI and how much base load planned is due to new data centres coming online?”

Coady responded that none of the power from the gas plant would be going to data centres.

“There was a project proposed in southern New Brunswick,” he said referring to the Lorneville project.

“I can tell you now, if that project doesn’t have its own generation or some other way to keep its operation going, there’s no way NB Power can serve it with the amount of infrastructure that we have today, inclusive of the RIGS project. So it’s not a part of our plan,” Coady said.

‘Two kinds of people’

Jean Nye, an Elder from Fort Folly First Nation said she had a question for everyone in the room.

“In this world, there are two kinds of people,” she said.

“There are people who live on the land, and there are people who are of the land. The people who live on the land see the land as a resource, something that they can harvest, something that they can use.

Jean Nye, Fort Folly Elder

“People who are of the land see ourselves as connected to everything, rocks, trees, fish, birds, all the animals, all the plants.

“I want to know, what are you? Are you of the land or are you on the land?” she asked.

“It’s a tough question to answer,” Coady replied, adding that he and his family spend a lot of time in the New Brunswick wilderness.

“And yet I work for an energy utility and it does create tension,” he said.

“I have two young kids, two young daughters, and I’m trying to say how do we make this place better for them when we pass it on, but yet I’m here in front of you talking about a gas turbine project,” Coady added.

” I lived through a blackout event,” he said in an apparent reference to the 2013 blackout in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Three people died in that event because they were trying to protect their families and coming up with alternative heating sources for their homes. We had a lineman killed in that event as well, as they were trying to restore power. That’s the other side of the reality of this,” he said.

 “So if you ask me what kind of a person I am, I guess I’m on the fence, aren’t I? I’m on both sides of that coin and that’s not a fair answer to you. I’m going to ponder that one probably the rest of the night figuring out what truly am I in my soul,” Coady concluded.

For Erica Butler’s CBC coverage of the meeting, click here.

Posted in climate change, Environment, Indigenous affairs, NB Power | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Citizens gather to support Sackville firefighters as town pledges to hire external investigator

Posted on January 13, 2026 by brucewark

About 75 people showed up outside Tantramar Town Hall tonight to support the 12 Sackville firefighters who turned in their pagers last week bringing the number of on-call firefighters to only about 18, in a department where full strength would be 43.

During a two-minute presentation, Sackville resident Breanne Wheaton warned town council that understaffing in Sackville Fire and Rescue puts public safety at risk as she referred to a National Fire Protection Association standard.

“It expects a rural community like Sackville to be able to put six trained firefighters on scene within 14 minutes, 80% of the time,” she said.

“With less than 18 firefighters remaining in our department, that standard is not realistically achievable,” she added.

Breanne Wheaton addressing Tantramar council

Wheaton referred to a news release the town issued late this afternoon promising the immediate hiring of an External Workplace Investigator “to address complaints and concerns received from firefighters.”

“What makes council think doing another investigation will bring about any change?” she asked after noting that the $31,500 Montana consultants’ report commissioned in 2021 had not resolved problems that had led to the resignations of more than 30 Sackville firefighters over a 10-year period.

Mayor Andrew Black replied that the Montana consultants had conducted a workplace assessment which he described as “someone coming in and getting a feel for an operation or organization” and then recommending changes in standard operating guidelines and procedures that would not fix underlying issues.

“I want to make it very clear that there’s a difference between what a workplace assessment is and what an investigation is,” he said.

Mayor Andrew Black

“Investigation is something altogether different.” he added. “It is an acknowledgement that there are clear indications of violation and those need to be investigated and at the end of that there would be a concrete and firm course of action.”

The town’s news release also promised to recruit a Director of Protective Services to oversee Tantramar’s three fire departments.

In the meantime, council has approved a new position called Tantramar Fire Service Manager of People and Culture to handle fire department issues.

Acting Clerk Becky Goodwin, who served for nine years as a volunteer in Sackville Fire and Rescue, has been reassigned to the new post. Her late father, Wayne Goodwin, also served as fire chief for many years.

When Councillor Michael Tower asked if these new measures gave her confidence that the town might be moving in the right direction, Wheaton replied that what stopped her from having full confidence was the length of the turmoil within the fire department.

“We’re talking 10 to 12 years that these issues have been going on and so I’m hoping that this council is going to be the council that that puts an end to that and gives a better work environment for these volunteers that give a lot of their time to our community,” she said.

To read the town’s news release, click here.

To read the full text of Breanne Wheaton’s statement to town council, click here.

To read Mayor Black’s explanation of the differences between the Montana workplace assessment conducted in 2021 and the promised external workplace investigation, click here.

Posted in Sackville Fire & Rescue, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Sackville firefighters accept CAO’s invitation for meeting to discuss grievances

Posted on January 9, 2026 by brucewark

Firefighters use aerial ladder truck to fight fire at Salem Elementary School in 2018

The 12 volunteer firefighters, who turned in their pagers on Monday, say they have accepted an invitation to meet with Tantramar’s Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Borne to discuss why they felt they had to step away from their workplace at the Sackville fire department.

“The firefighters…are hopeful that sharing their experiences in this setting will finally lead to meaningful action within the Sackville Fire Department,” they say in a statement e-mailed to Warktimes last night.

“The twelve firefighters wish to be clear: this was not a resignation. Stepping away is intended to underscore the seriousness of the situation and the need for prompt, effective intervention by the employer,” their statement adds.

They acknowledge that the town has a strong policy on workplace harassment, but their statement adds: “the municipality has not made adequate and meaningful action to address the underlying problems within the department to mitigate favoritism, and to provide a safe and a harassment free environment.”

Their statement also refers to “important changes” in the bylaw governing the fire department in response to recommendations made by the Montana Consulting Group that the town hired in 2021 after Warktimes published reports about 17 firefighters who had resigned over a five-year span.

Their resignation letters outlined complaints about persistent harassment, bullying, favouritism and blatant discrimination against women in the department.

Montana recommendations

Sackville Fire Chief Craig Bowser

Under the new fire department bylaw, firefighters became part-time employees with better wage rates, but the bylaw also gave more power to the fire chief and the CAO:

—the old fire department constitution and internal bylaws, which gave firefighters the right to elect their own officers as well as a say in the hiring of new members, was eliminated.

—the grievance committee, which had never been set up, was replaced with a complaint procedure requiring volunteer firefighters to discuss their complaints with the chief and then, with the CAO.

Although the Montana report has never been made public, it’s understood that the consultants made several recommendations including:

—clarify the town’s expectations regarding the role and duties of the fire chief

—provide proper training for each firefighter and for each supervisor

—the chief should conduct firefighter performance reviews on a timely basis as determined in consultation with the CAO

—the CAO should get feedback from the firefighters at least every three years regarding the performance of the chief.

As part-time employees, firefighters are subject to the town’s social media policy which bans any commentary that would reflect badly on how the town is run and firefighters must refer any media requests for information or comment to the fire chief.

When the firefighters turned in their pagers on Monday, they presented the CAO with a two-page letter outlining their grievances.

Warktimes did not receive a copy.

To read the firefighters’ statement, click here.

Note: As the fire department’s only full-time employee, the fire chief receives a base salary of between $75,707 and $100,942.

Posted in Sackville Fire & Rescue, Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 2 Comments