Heavy equipment working under the watchful eyes of security was working this week on a road into the gas plant site on the Chignecto Isthmus. Photo: Juliette Bulmer
As work continues building a road into the proposed site of a PROENERGY gas/diesel generating plant near Centre Village, NB Power appears to have succeeded in shortening the timeline to get approval for the project from New Brunswick’s Energy & Utilities Board (EUB).
During a meeting yesterday, EUB Board Chair Christopher Stewart agreed to five days of hearings in February instead of in March as previously scheduled.
Stewart did not act on his own, but withdrew from the meeting (conducted via Zoom) while NB Power and various interveners discussed the schedule in a closed session before recommending that the hearings be held from February 9th to 13th. Under the original draft schedule, they would have been held one month later.
Stewart said during the meeting that the EUB had been planning to hold the hearings in Moncton, but so far, the location has not been determined.
Power failure risks
In documents filed with the EUB this week, NB Power warned that its agreement with PROENERGY — signed on July 2nd — would expire in nine months, on April 2, 2026 and that it has been unable to persuade the American company to grant an extension.
Referring to PROENERGY as the Owner, NB Power says:
Market conditions for the combustion turbine engines being procured by the Owner have altered since the Tolling Agreement was entered on July 2, 2025, such that demand and pricing for the units have continued to increase, as production capacity for the units is limited. As a result, the Owner has an economic incentive to terminate the Tolling Agreement and obtain higher pricing elsewhere.
NB Power warns if that were to happen, there could be “significant delays” in procuring the generating capacity needed by 2028 to avoid power failures when demand is highest.
To read the NB Power document, click here.
Truck entering the new road. Photo: Juliette Bulmer
During yesterday’s hearings, the EUB accepted the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC) and the Conservation Council of New Brunswick (CCNB) as interveners with the right to present evidence and question witnesses.
The PCIC intervener request states in part:
The Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC) works to ensure that decisions about the Isthmus prioritize ecological integrity and community well-being. By fosteringcollaboration across communities, governments, industries, and Indigenous Peoples, we are building a resilient and sustainable economy that honours and integrates the wisdom of traditional custodians of the land and waters. Through partnership, respect, and shared stewardship, we protect biodiversity, strengthen climate security, and uphold democratic due diligence in all significant developments. Our mission is to defend this landscape as a living bridge for current and future generations, ensuring its capacity to support life and livelihoods in a rapidly changing world.
To read the whole document, click here.
Environment minister says ‘no’
Meantime, New Brunswick’s Environment Minister Gilles LePage continues to deny the coalition’s demand for a full environmental review of the gas plant project.
LePage met for an-hour-and-a-half with coalition leaders Barry Rothfuss, Pam Novak, Juliette Bulmer and Terry Jones as well as MLA Megan Mitton yesterday in Fredericton as they pressed him to order a comprehensive EIA.
But in an e-mail response today that was copied to the premier’s office, LePage continues to defend the less-thorough process known as a “Determination review.”
To read his e-mail, click here.
View from Rte. 940. Photo: Juliette Bulmer
Can someone provide an accurate official geographic map which outlines the boundaries of the Chignecto Isthmus? I would like to confirm or clarify their locations before taking seriously any of the rhetoric pertaining to what damage will caused to the location “Known as Chignecto Isthmus”
You were given this already, Macx. That’s on you if you didn’t bother to look at the information and shouldn’t be on anyone else to provide it to you again when you can just go back to look.
No legal official geographic border Grid References were ever sent to me. Just assumptions as to where the Isthmus borders excess. Again, an expression of inaccurate/incomplete/misinformation.
You know you would never be given “official geographic border Grid References” unless you go direct to a government survey, if even then.
The links of information – which include maps – are as good as you’re going to get Macx, you know this. Stop using that as an excuse to dismiss reality.
Reality can only be created with knowledge and as much accurate information as possible not with only person wishes and preferences.
And yet you keep denying the information given to you as if it were not applicable.
Your wishes and preferences of exact “Grid References” ARE a denial of reality and that reality is – the information was given to you, it’s on you if you ignore it continually to push a false narrative of needing it before framing opinions.
When were Grid References published and by who? I have not seen them.
A request for the official Grid References of the Chignecto Isthmus, to establish it’s recognized location, seems to be reasonable request of information?
Yes, with you are right I try to create/develop an opinion after I review all possible information, not before.
No one said Grid References were published; perhaps you need to go back and re-read what’s been posted to you.
Again.
As for developing an opinion after you review – absolute BS Macx; you’ve already given your opinion about this project DESPITE the information out there.
The short answer is probably that there are no grid references for the Chignecto Isthmus, because it has never been necessary to define the boundaries exactly.
Is it necessary to define it exactly? Precisely defining the geographical name is less relevant to the issue of the gas plant than is biology and hydrogeology. For ex:
1. Where are the aquifers that will be used by the gas plant, and what properties and communities will be affected if the plant overuses groundwater until wells run dry.
2. How does the location of the plant affect wildlife and other ecological features of the region?
However any individual defines the Chignecto Isthmus, the more important question is how the region will be affected, whatever you call the region.
An example would be watersheds. Centre Village is within the watershed of the Tantramar River, which ties the site to the Chignecto Isthmus, regardless of the exact boundaries of the isthmus.
Tantramar watershed map
https://changingclimate.ca/site/assets/uploads/2022/06/EOS_Figure2_MapChignectoWatersheds.jpg
So, wherever anyone wants to draw a line and say “here the Chignecto Isthmus ends,”
there are going to be things that overlap that line: migration routes, aquifers, watersheds, etc.
It’s more productive to focus on what’s actually going to be affected than on geographical definitions that may not even exist, and aren’t really important to the question of what harms may come from the gas plant.
IMO requesting these ‘geographical’ spots is a BS move especially when there are maps out there that give the area designated as the Isthmus – both overall and the narrower 25km portion most people talk about.
It’s an excuse for ignorance, nothing more.
As you said Jon, it’s more important that the actual reality of the gas plant project be discussed as well as its harms (and benefits, few though they are).
It is sad just how low in language and attitude when expressing commits when disagreeing with an opinion of an another participant in the discussion as expressed above.
Therefore I will not give cadence to those that express themselves in such a manner thus I am withdrawing from what was interesting and decent interaction.
There’s disagreeing with an opinion and then there’s blatant ignorance.
You were heavily continually focused on the latter and rarely expressed the former.
There was no ‘interaction’ going on outside of your repeated “what is the exact grid reference of the Isthmus” and if you think somehow that was ‘interesting’ then clearly what is ‘interesting’ to you has dulled over the years.