Tantramar management services consultant Steve Cullen

Tantramar Town Council heard one presentation that tilted heavily in favour of the proposed 500 MW Chignecto Isthmus gas plant on Tuesday and two others strongly against it.

Steve Cullen, a local management services consultant who has worked for various energy companies including Avangrid Networks, suggested Tantramar residents should not worry about the proposed 500 MW gas plant near Centre Village that NB Power has hired the U.S. company PROENERGY to build, own and operate.

Drawing on more than 30 years of experience in constructing oil and gas facilities, Cullen told town council that strong, international quality control standards, strict environmental regulations as well as the environmental standards and policies of the project proponents ensure that the construction and operation of gas plants do no harm.

“Perhaps the greatest concern expressed in media of late is the regulatory and compliance as it relates to wildlife, environment, and things of that nature,” he said.

He added that based on the various projects he worked on, environmental effects are taken very seriously.

“I would assume that following the same standard that would be in place here at this facility, water, wastewater, chemicals, biocide, whatever you want to call it, those are not allowed to be discharged into the environment, period,” Cullen said.

“They have to be either stored on site for containment, taken away later for treatment or treated by a wastewater facility on site.”

Cullen emphasized that he has no affiliation with the proponents of the Tantramar gas plant and no inside knowledge of their plans, but suggested they will have to abide by the strict environmental standards that are in place everywhere else.

Comprehensive EIA

Councillor Michael Tower referred to a slide Cullen presented showing a natural gas compressor station north of Peace River, Alberta.

“Did they do a comprehensive environmental study?” Tower asked.

“Yes,” Cullen answered.

“Members of the public here, council itself, have pushed for this project early on to have a comprehensive environmental impact assessment (EIA) from the start,” Mayor Black said.

“We have been denied that opportunity every step of the way,” he added, pointing to the much less rigorous “deterministic” assessment that the province is currently conducting.

Cullen replied that comprehensive assessments are mandatory in western Canada and in the U.S. where the Environmental Protection Agency has very strong standards.

“So of course, those things had to be done before we even broke ground,” he said. “I would think that this would the same thing here…I hope that they would do that.”

Respect for neighbours

Centre Village resident Terry Jones

In her five minute presentation, Centre Village resident Terry Jones said the proposed gas plant raises serious questions about public safety, yet the town has no bylaws to protect residents in the former LSDs.

“It is the role of this Council to start the process of drafting bylaws that protect the health and well-being of people, wildlife, livestock, the environment, and limit excessive water draw, provide buffer zones around industrial projects and utility sites for all future development,” she said.

She pointed out that the proposed gas plant would be right next to her home.

“There’s no fence between me and them,” she said. “There’s definitely no sound barrier. I keep being told that it’s going to be very, very quiet, but I’m thinking it’s not going to be,” Jones said.

“I was going to bring a vacuum today and just plug it in over in the corner so we could listen to it for the whole meeting and just see how many people enjoyed a quiet vacuum in their background 24-7.”

She added that construction is underway again at the gas plant site with big trucks tearing up Rte. 940.

“So, it’s destroying the shoulder of the road. The potholes are unbelievable. This is the worst I’ve seen since 1992 when I moved to Brooklyn Road first and then to Centre Village.”

She added she’s not against responsible development that takes neighbours and the environment into consideration.

“I’m just saying responsible use of the land and respect for your neighbours,” Jones said.

“They don’t have either at PROENERGY, nor at NB Power.”

BESS in Tantramar?

Peter Higham of Seniors for Climate — Tantramar

Peter Higham of Seniors for Climate — Tantramar told council that his group is part of the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition that is resolved to keep fighting the proposed gas plant until the government finally stops it.

“To repeat, we are fixed in purpose until the gas plant is completely cancelled,” he said.

“It’s not that we don’t want that plant here in Tantramar. We don’t want it anywhere in New Brunswick.”

Higham referred to a document from the Conservation Council of New Brunswick that promotes grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) as an alternative to burning fossil fuels.

First, it enhances the reliability and stability of the electrical grid, ensuring a consistent supply of electricity even during peak demand or unforeseen disruptions,” he said as he read from the CCNB document.

“Second, it facilitates the integration of renewable energy sources like wind and solar by storing excess energy during times of low demand and releasing it during high demand periods. This reduces reliance on fossil fuels and promotes a cleaner, more sustainable energy mix.”

Higham noted that town council had received a letter from the Canadian company NRStor that builds, owns and operates energy storage projects and he urged council to organize a public information session so that the company could demonstrate what it has to offer.

Jeff Taylor, Tantramar’s director of community and corporate services, said he had met with NRStor twice.

“They’re looking at somewhere to site battery energy storage, and they wanted to work with local partners,” he said.

Taylor added he had put the company in touch with the Southeast Regional Service Commission’s planning department as well as the town’s Climate Change Advisory Committee to help identify sites that might be suitable locations for battery storage.

“That type of project is mushrooming everywhere and usually in connection with wind and solar power,” Higham said.

“So that is just another example of where the fossil fuel technology is old-dated and we’re in a new era now and we better get there like everybody else is doing.”