Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton: Facebook photo
Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton is vowing to continue pushing for a comprehensive environmental impact assessment (EIA) of NB Power’s proposed natural gas and diesel generating plant on the Chignecto Isthmus near Centre Village.
She was responding to Susan Holt’s comments Friday during CBC Radio’s morning show when the premier stopped short of committing the province to a comprehensive review of the project that would include government experts and an independent review panel.
Instead Holt suggested any assessment would be conducted by New Brunswick Power.
“I’m not sure if Premier Holt is familiar with the EIA process,” Mitton said during a telephone interview with Warktimes.
“It’s not NB Power that would be carrying it out,” she added noting that the American contractor, PROENERGY will be holding open houses on the project.
“A comprehensive review is much more in-depth and it requires extensive public participation as well as consultations with First Nations and much more study,” Mitton said.
She added that provincial Environment Minister Gilles LePage has not responded to her July 23rd letter requesting a comprehensive provincial EIA.
“And, I’m going to take his silence as a rejection of my request at this point.”
Uncertain project costs
During the CBC morning show, Holt acknowledged that the province is currently trying to support Canadian businesses rather than procuring U.S. goods and services, but said NB Power put the gas plant project out for tender before her government was elected and the American company was the only bidder that met the requirements.
Premier Susan Holt
“So, there wasn’t a Canadian option,” the premier said.
But Mitton says she’s skeptical.
“It’s unconscionable to be signing a contract with an American company during an economic trade war and moving forward without it being clear even how much this is going to cost New Brunswickers,” she said.
“I don’t think this is best option, and it’s locking us in for 25 years using fracked gas from the U.S,” she added, noting that NB Power is claiming that the province’s Energy & Utilities Board (EUB) does not have jurisdiction to oversee the costs of the project which it refers to as Renewables Integration Grid Security (RIGS).
Battery backup
Barb Clayton, who is chair of the group EOS Eco-Energy, e-mailed a question to the CBC that Premier Holt answered during Friday’s morning show.
“Why not focus on developing an energy storage facility using the battery technology already in use in places like the EU (European Union), which now generates almost three-quarters of its energy using renewables rather than relying on dated and polluting gas and diesel?” Clayton asked.
Holt replied that renewable sources such as wind and solar are intermittent and need to be backed up.
“The natural gas plant is the best and easiest way to allow us to adopt a lot more renewable energy quickly and be able to handle its load on the grid,” the premier said.
She suggested that batteries, such as ones used to back up a solar project in Shediac, generate power for only one or two hours and so wouldn’t be suitable for longer backups.
But Mitton points to larger batteries that are now being used in Ontario and Nova Scotia.
“Ontario has just procured a 390-megawatt one,” she said.
Barb Clayton, Chair EOS Eco-Energy, presenting to town council in February
“There are other options and so I just don’t buy what they’re selling,” she said, adding that New Brunswick needs energy that’s “not going to make us sick with air pollution, using up people’s well water, emitting light pollution and that’s not going to harm the environment in an ecologically sensitive area.”
Barb Clayton herself says she wasn’t satisfied with Holt’s answer either.
“The idea with renewables is that you have to use multiple sources, wind and solar and hydro,” she told Warktimes during a telephone interview.
“And besides, fossil fuels, including natural gas, are not a good investment,” Clayton said referring to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s book Value(s) which argues for massive investments in renewable energy including storage batteries while redirecting capital investments away from carbon-intensive sectors.
“It seems like some people in the European Union have figured it out because they’re getting a substantial amount of their energy needs from renewables,” Clayton says.
“So how are they doing it? Let’s find out what the rest of the world is doing.”
To read a transcript of Premier Holt’s comments, click here.
Note: Two public open houses have been scheduled on the project:
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- Tuesday, August 12th from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Sackville Music Barn, 18 Station Rd.
- Wednesday, August 13th from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre, 182 Main St., Sackville.
To comment on the project and to read existing online comments made to the federal Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, click here.
For more information, click here.
When it comes to this project, the casual dismissal of concerns raised over incidents that would be listed as “disasters” was one of my two biggest concerns. The “we have these all over the world and have had no problems” attitude/response was NOT comforting to say the least.
The other objection is one many others have had – this is a US based Company (even if there may be Canadian side companies included) and at this time, something like this should NOT be going through what so ever. And I think it looks very BAD on Dominic LeBlanc – who is out there meeting with the US Government Officials – to have something like this in his riding.
“EU (European Union), which now generates almost three-quarters of its energy using renewables” -Barb Clayton, chair EOS Eco-Energy
Clayton is incorrect in this statement. The link to Reuters has the information that 3/4 of EU energy is from “CO2 emissions-free sources”, not “renewables”. Only half of the EU’s carbon neutral energy is renewable (solar, wind). The other 24% making up the quoted 74% carbon neutral is nuclear.
She’s right that the EU has made progress towards using renewables like solar and wind, but to understand why that is possible with the variability of solar and wind it’s necessary to know that there is also nuclear to compensate for fluctuations in renewable energy supply.
The only thing that bothers me is having anything to do with the Americans. Call for new tenders excluding any American companies. We can learn a lot from Premier Ford cancelling contracts with the Americans. If it cost us to be released from any contracts so be it, don’t give the Americans any satisfaction of building in Canada. Elbows Up, we are at war with that Criminal Donald Trump. As Winston Churchill said “we will never surrender”.
Can’t wait to attend wearing my green “I Love Fossil Fuels” tshirt and holding my “F*ck Net Zero” signage .. thanks for the detailed reporting Bruce.. duly noted:
Wednesday, August 13th from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre, 182 Main St., Sackville.
Cool story. So edgy. Did Big Oil give you a sticker too?
Your cell phone and laptop are courtesy of Big Oil.. bucko.
With disappointment, I note once again how the local MLA has managed to rile up her constituents, with her misunderstanding of the work required to get a facility like this, into production. She mistakenly believes that no environmental assessment will be done and that the owner will start construction without care or concern for the environment. Boy, is she wrong.
There is a well-known engineering company who has been hired to do exactly that, as part of their client service agreement. Regardless, environmental protection and considerations are part of the construction process, from conception to execution, meaning, its the law. It has to be done.
Reading the comments on the various articles related to the matter in this forum, as well as on the Federal Impast Assessment Act site reminds me of the old fable about Chicken Little and his crying that the “sky is falling.” A lot of rumour, innuendo and fear mongering is there, which is unfortunate. It’s no secret that the power grid needs improvement, or, we risk the possibility of rolling brown and black outs. I lived through those in the USA. Here is a technically-sound and proven way to decrease the burden on our power supply, but it looks like the locals have taken the “N.I.M.B.Y.” approach.
So what’s it going to be, folks? We continue to block projects designed to improve our infrastructure because the worst case scenario may come true? Do we keep our resources in the ground for want of allegedly better wind and solar power? Check out Sask Power’s site, where it shows the sporadic albeit minimal output of their green energy facilities in relation to demand. That can also occur here.
So, I guess the question is, will the locals who have loudly proclaimed their resistance to the project adopt reason and logic in their approach or continue to be led around by a political party whose mandate is the end of oil and gas in this country…?
“She mistakenly believes that no environmental assessment will be done”
Minister LePage has not committed to an environmental assessment.
“environmental protection and considerations are part of the construction process, from conception to execution, meaning, its the law. It has to be done. “
Not if Minister LePage waives the provincial environmental assessment, which he has the power to do.
“continue to be led around by a political party whose mandate is the end of oil and gas in this country…?”
The growing resistance to this project has nothing to do with Green Party support. Conflating the two is misleading and silly.
In the first public meeting discussing the project, the company said they had people look into the environmental assessment to the area.
But when questions came up, the answers given were less than satisfactory.
I think you may be mistaken in your view on this: it’s not that people don’t think the assessment was done, they just don’t believe that it was done *properly* and with people who are not versed in the environment of the region.
(then again, there were locals who did mention that they did not see anyone, nor did anyone speak to them, about the environment of the area which does come across as suspicious)
We do need something to protect against rising energy demands.
But we also need to do something right, and it needs to be the right company, thus far this situation has neither.