Gallant promises millions for energy efficiency, helping NB Power cope with 4-year rate freeze

Posted on September 9, 2018 by brucewark

Brian Gallant’s big campaign bus rolled up to Léo-Paul Gaudet’s home on Rue Centrale in Memramcook on Saturday where the Liberal leader announced that if his government is re-elected on September 24th, it will increase its investments in two energy efficiency programs administered by NB Power.

“We will double the province’s investment in the Low Income Energy Savings Program going from $2 million to $4 million per year. We will also double our investment in the Energy Retrofit Program going from approximately $20 million to approximately $40 million per year to make hospitals, schools and other government buildings more energy efficient,” Gallant promised as he stood at a lectern in Gaudet’s yard beside an LG heat pump.

The premier also took the opportunity to slam PC leader Blaine Higgs and his Conservatives for slashing funding to Efficiency New Brunswick when they were in office and appointing former Conservative cabinet minister Margaret-Ann Blaney to head it.

Liberal leader Brian Gallant in Memramcook with federal MP Dominic LeBlance (L) and local candidate Bernard LeBlanc

“Investments in energy efficiency programs have grown over our first mandate,” Gallant added without mentioning the Liberals’ own controversial decision to scrap Efficiency New Brunswick and fold the Crown corporation’s energy-saving mandate into NB Power.

When a reporter asked whether he was sending conflicting messages about energy efficiency, Gallant suggested that giving NB Power responsibility for it was the right thing to do.

He explained that it is in NB Power’s interest to be as energy efficient as possible in order to reduce its generating costs during times of peak demand.

“What happens is they have to generate electricity, more electricity, in a way that is not as economically sound,” the premier said, “so making sure that we’re more energy efficient is actually very much in line with NB Power’s plans, with our plans, to have NB Power freeze their rates.”

Gallant was referring to his controversial promise earlier in the campaign to legislate a four-year freeze on residential and small business power rates. He added that such a rate freeze would force NB Power “to keep costs as low as possible” and that encouraging more efficient use of electricity, especially during times of peak demand, is one way the utility could do it.

NB Power’s record questioned

In spite of the premier’s contention that NB Power is best suited to promote energy efficiency programs, the utility’s record for implementing them was criticized earlier this year during rate hearings before New Brunswick’s Energy and Utilities Board.

For one thing, Angela Vitulli an energy consultant from Massachusetts who had been hired by the public intervener, questioned the effectiveness of the utility’s program for low-income homeowners.

Her report showed that NB Power helps 328 such homeowners per year — only 0.61 per cent of its low-income customer base while Nova Scotia Power’s low-income participation rate was over one per cent (660 homeowners) and Manitoba Hydro’s was more than five per cent (3,785 homeowners).

“NB Power appears to be too focused on a small number of participants, and we recommend that they expand their programming to serve more of the population,” her report said. (For a CBC summary of Vitulli’s other criticisms, click here. To read her entire 40-page report, click here.)

Gallant defends jobs record

Liberal candidate Bernard LeBlanc (L) was on hand to greet Premier Gallant (R) and MP Dominic LeBlanc as the bus arrived. Bernard LeBlanc has represented Memramcook-Tantramar for the last 4 years

Meantime, at his Memramcook campaign stop on Saturday, Gallant defended his government’s record on job creation in light of a report from Statistics Canada that New Brunswick lost 3,900 jobs over the last three months.

And, an online CBC report says the province gained only 1,500 jobs over the last four years in spite of the Liberals’ promise to create at least 10,000 jobs during their first term in office.

When asked about the figures, Gallant said the investments his government made in building infrastructure and on programs like the youth employment fund and supporting business start-ups actually created 15,000 jobs.

“We’ve had a net gain of jobs, there’s more jobs today that there were when we became the government, the unemployment rate has gone down from 10.1 per cent to 8.3 per cent, we’ve seen the population be at its largest level during our mandate, exports have gone up every single year (and) wages have gone up significantly over the last four years,” Gallant said.

Student loan relief

The premier was also asked why his government has delayed implementing a program to eliminate interest payments on provincial post-secondary student loans for graduates who stay in New Brunswick.

Gallant himself first mentioned the program during a speech last January and money was allocated for it in the provincial budget, but the premier now says it won’t go into effect until January 1, 2019.

“The fiscal year that we currently find ourselves in started on April 1st,” Gallant said, adding that the fiscal year runs until the end of March, 2019.

“We…have prioritized over the last four years investments in education, investments to improve the accessibility and affordability of post-secondary education and allowing that the interest on provincial loans be forgiven is something that we have planned in this fiscal year and it’s something that a re-elected Liberal government will be very pleased to do,” he said.

Posted in New Brunswick Election 2018 | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Consultant outlines short-term flood control plan, but says Sackville will need to do more

Posted on September 7, 2018 by brucewark

Crandall consultant Pierre Plourde during a meeting last year

A consultant with Crandall Engineering of Moncton suggests the construction of two large stormwater retention ponds east of Lorne Street will be crucial for long-term flood prevention in downtown Sackville.

During a presentation to town council on Tuesday evening, Pierre Plourde said the large ponds will be needed to store water when there are heavy rains, especially during the high Fundy tides.

“As a storm hits and the tides are in, then the water needs to go somewhere,” Plourde said, adding that now it ends up flooding downtown streets during bad storms.

“What we want to do is control that water between the tide cycles, so when the tide starts to go out, the ponds can drain,” he said, “but in between, you need to be able to store it.”

Plourde acknowledged that the town does not have the money for the two large retention ponds that were included in an earlier plan drafted by Crandall as part of Phase Two of the Lorne Street flood control project. (For my report on the initial plan that included two large ponds and a third, smaller one, click here.)

Plan B

In Phase One, of the project that was completed last year, construction companies reconstructed Lorne and St. James Streets installing bigger storm sewers and digging a large drainage ditch that was intended to tie into Phase Two which was supposed to cost $2.9 million.

However, the lowest bid for Phase Two came in at $5.9 million sending the town and its consultants back to the drawing boards.

On Tuesday, Plourde repeated what Town Engineer Dwayne Acton had reported to council last month.

He said that for now, Crandall and the town have been forced to scrap the original plan for the construction of the two large retention ponds along with pipes and ditches to drain water on a direct route through the Sackville Industrial Park to a double-gated aboiteau near one of the town’s sewage lagoons. Under that plan, the aboiteau would discharge stormwater into the Tantramar River as the tides recede.

Instead, Plourde said the new short-term plan includes the construction of just one large retention pond east of Lorne and south of St. James Streets.

Ditch meanders toward Tantramar River on the far side of Crescent St. near Armtec plant

That pond will store stormwater until it can be directed along a circular route through existing ditches to culverts under the CN tracks at Crescent Street and then, out to the river past the Armtec plant using provincially owned ditches and aboiteaux in the marshy areas along the way.

The new plan also includes a retention pond in the old Sackville Quarry to prevent stormwater from flooding into the downtown area.

“There’s way too much water that comes down from Quarry Lane and up above,” Plourde said. “You need to be able to store it.”

More money needed

Last month, a majority of councillors approved paying Crandall an additional $105,000 to design the new plan.

In the meantime, the town will apply for more money from the federal and provincial governments to carry out its original plan.

On Tuesday, Councillor Bill Evans said it might be hard getting more money because the storm sewers and ditches constructed during Phase One combined with the retention ponds that are part of the new plan will be able to handle rainwater during all but the most severe storms.

“It’s going to be harder to convince funders that we need this because we’re going to deal with all the regular flooding that we had before,” Evans added. “What we really are trying to do is prepare for the worst-case…scenario.”

Delay at Carters Brook

Meantime, Town Engineer Dwayne Action explained to councillors on Tuesday why work has stopped on the flood control project on Route 935 in the Carters Brook area of West Sackville.

The New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI) had hired a construction company to install three, six-foot, concrete aboiteaux spaced 10 feet apart.

Acton said, however, that water was getting into the work site through the temporary service road that had been built to divert traffic. He said DTI will be meeting with the contractor who built the service road next week to discuss how to resolve the problem so that work can continue on installing the new aboiteaux.

“Our assurance from DTI is that it is getting rectified and they should be back on site to proceed with the project very soon,” Acton reported.

Posted in Town of Sackville | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Local PC, NDP, Green candidates debate hot environmental topics while Liberal stays away

Posted on September 5, 2018 by brucewark

Three candidates took part in the debate. L-R: Etienne Gaudet (PC), Megan Mitton (Green), Hélène Boudreau (NDP)

Local PC, NDP and Green Party candidates discussed contentious environmental issues such as a carbon tax, fracking and glyphosate spraying Tuesday night in Sackville — without the participation of the Liberal who has represented the New Brunswick riding of Memramcook-Tantramar for the last four years.

Organizers of the all-candidates’ debate said Liberal Bernard LeBlanc could not take part because of  other commitments.  (The next day, LeBlanc’s campaign manager said she would relay my request for an interview to him so I could ask why he missed the debate. LeBlanc returned my call more than 24-hours later, on Thursday evening, explaining that he had been busy campaigning. When asked why he missed the all-candidates’ debate, he said it was because of  “a personal commitment I had made some time ago,” but he would not say what it was.)

The two hour debate, organized by the non-profit environmental group EOS Eco-Energy, covered a wide range of issues, but proposals for a carbon tax revealed the sharpest divisions between the Progressive Conservatives on the one hand and the New Democratic Party and Green candidates on the other.

“Our party’s position is crystal clear,” said PC candidate Etienne Gaudet. “We do not support a carbon tax. We will fight every step of the way (against) the carbon tax. It is a tax we cannot afford.”

Gaudet went on to say that a carbon tax would not work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and would cost each New Brunswick family $1,200 a year.

“If history has taught us anything,” Gaudet said, “that money will be wasted. The best place for that $1,200 is in your pocket, not the government’s pocket.”

“We do need a carbon tax,” Green candidate Megan Mitton replied. “Economists on both ends of the spectrum, the political spectrum, say that this is the best way forward to put a price on pollution and help us transition our economy away from fossil fuels.”

Mitton noted that the federal government is planning to impose a carbon tax on any province that fails to implement one.

She added that the New Brunswick Liberal government’s policy of diverting money from existing gasoline taxes into a climate change fund will not likely win federal approval, while the provincial Conservative plan to join other provinces in a court challenge to a federally imposed carbon tax would cost a lot of money and would likely be unsuccessful.

“Ultimately, the federal government will impose a plan on us and I strongly support coming up with a plan that is best for New Brunswickers,” she said, adding that the damaging effects of climate change would be even more expensive to cope with than trying to mitigate them now with measures such as a carbon tax.

“We need to think of it as…putting a price on pollution and it is proven to work when you put a price on pollution,” Mitton said.

For her part, NDP candidate Hélène Boudreau pointed to the plan for a carbon reduction fund in her party’s platform.

“When you say (carbon) tax, you scare people,” she said, “when you say (carbon) reduction fund, then they ask questions.”

Boudreau added that while a carbon tax would make individual, everyday activities more expensive, the NDP plan would return one third of that money to low and middle-income people as a rebate, another third would be invested in job-creating, renewable energy projects with the remaining funds dedicated to green infrastructure programs such as making homes more energy efficient.

“The carbon reduction fund, based on the money coming in, would be reinvested, so in 10, 15 years, we will have a greener economy (and) greener jobs,” Boudreau said. “It’s actually about economic health (that is) sustainable for the next 30 to 40 years,” she added. (To read about the carbon reduction fund in the NDP platform, click here.)

More than 75 people attended the all-candidates’ environmental debate in Sackville

Fracking

The candidates also differed on the issue of whether to allow companies to drill hydraulic fracturing wells to extract shale gas in New Brunswick.

Green candidate Megan Mitton said she was strongly against allowing any fracking.

“There’s more and more science being released continually about how it isn’t safe,” she said. “It pollutes water, there’s evidence now of birth defects for women who are pregnant living near fracked wells and there are so many health concerns that come to mind let alone thinking of all the animals in our ecosystems and what could happen to our watershed.”

Mitton added that investing in the extraction of more fossils fuels would only slow the transition to a greener economy based on renewable energy.

NDP candidate Hélène Boudreau also spoke strongly against fracking adding that she favours a legislated ban rather than the current moratorium adopted by the Liberals.

However, PC candidate Etienne Gaudet acknowledged that his party would consider allowing fracking in areas where there is strong public support for it. But he also said that he has not seen such support in Memramcook-Tantramar among the hundreds of people he has spoken to since his campaign began.

“It is clear there is no deep desire of any kind for fracking in this riding,” he said, suggesting that if he’s elected, he would represent the wishes of the people here.

Forest spraying

On the issue of spraying the herbicide glyphosate, the NDP’s Hélène Boudreau gave an emphatic, one-sentence answer.

“Ban glyphosate spraying on Crown land and all other forested areas in New Brunswick, period,” she said.

Green candidate Megan Mitton agreed, adding there should also be a ban on glyphosate spraying along power lines.

Etienne Gaudet of the PCs said that as a small, fruit and vegetable farmer, he does not use Roundup, the commercial product that contains glyphosate.

He said a PC government would review forestry spraying, but added that the federal Health Department supports its use under certain circumstances.

“A government that comes into power has difficult, difficult, complicated decisions to make on many messy issues,” Gaudet said. “Make no mistake about it, the use of Roundup, glyphosate, is a complicated decision.”

Posted in New Brunswick Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

NB election: Greens promise sweeping changes to fix health care ‘crisis’

Posted on September 1, 2018 by brucewark

NB Green leader David Coon with local candidate Megan Mitton addressing reporters in Sackville

New Brunswick’s Green Party leader is promising a revamped provincial health care system that would include improved mental health services, 40 new nurse practitioners, midwifery services in every region and eight new community health centres.

David Coon says the changes would be paid for partly by cutting $100 million a year in government subsidies and tax breaks to big business and charging forestry companies $30 million more for the wood they cut on Crown lands.

During an outdoor news conference on Wednesday near the Sackville hospital, Coon said he’s met with New Brunswickers from all over the province as well as health professionals such as nurse practitioners, nurses, paramedics and emergency room doctors who all say that health care is in crisis.

“What is this crisis of care?” Coon asked. “We have to begin with a wholly inadequate mental health treatment system in this province that is failing everyone,” he said. “We have a virtual epidemic of depression and anxiety disorders in our schools, among our youth in every corner of this province right now and the system cannot handle it,” he added. “The wait times are excruciatingly long to get treatment and long to get diagnosis.”

Coon also mentioned long wait times in emergency rooms, poor rural ambulance services, burnout among paramedics and nursing home workers as well as a looming shortage of nurses with more than 40 per cent of them set to retire over the next five years.

“We have fundamental problems,” Coon said. “Putting duct tape over them as has been the practice of the last number of governments is not the solution. We need fundamental change in the health-care system, we need reconstructive surgery.”

Green solutions

Coon’s solutions include increasing the money available for mental health and addiction services over four years until it reaches nine per cent of the health-care budget. He explained that would mean spending an additional $30 million in the first year, $60 million in the second, $90 million in the third and $120 million in the fourth.

“We will fundamentally move away from the solitary practice of physicians,” Coon said, “to a collaborative system where health professionals such as nurse practitioners, pharmacists and others work hand-in-hand collaboratively with physicians.”

He said eight new community health centres along with 40 new nurse practitioner positions would facilitate the move to a collaborative system while easing wait times in emergency rooms.

Coon also advocates giving pharmacists the power to diagnose and treat minor ailments as they can in other parts of Canada.

“So that instead of using the expensive machinery of an ER and having eight, nine, 10 hours of wait in our city ERs, people will be able to go to the local pharmacist and get treated for minor but painful infections and so on and get their prescriptions right there in a matter of minutes,” he said.

Financing the changes

Coon said improvements to health care would be paid for partly by cutting $100 million a year in assistance, subsidies and tax breaks to profitable businesses like the TD Bank.

“We cannot afford to give money or lucrative tax breaks to hugely profitable corporations,” Coon said, “nor can we continue to afford the token property tax bills charged to heavy industries like the oil refineries and the pulp mills of this province.”

The Green leader added that another $30 million would come from charging forestry companies fair prices for the wood they harvest on Crown lands.

“We’ve been earning very little from our forest resources and they’re extensive as we know and so, we will change that,” he said.

“We’ll tackle the health crisis head on,” Coon concluded. “New Brunswickers will then be able to get the care they need and our health professionals will be able to deliver the care they’re trained to deliver.”

To read the entire health-care section of the Green Party platform, click here.

Mitton on highway tolls

Here is a story broadcast last week on CFTA, Tantramar community radio, 107.9 FM in Amherst:

A New Brunswick Green Party candidate is defending her party’s plan to impose tolls on drivers entering the province on four-lane highways.

Megan Mitton is running for the Greens in the riding of Memramcook-Tantramar which is on the border with Nova Scotia.

She says the tolls charged to motorists on the Trans-Canada highway would help pay for another Green Party promise — improved public transportation to all parts of New Brunswick.

However, Mitton says the highway tolls would have to be implemented carefully to avoid hurting people who drive back and forth, to and from Amherst:

Mitton made her comments on highway tolls while campaigning in Sackville with federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May.

The Greens are hoping to make a breakthrough in the riding when the New Brunswick election is held on September the 24th.

To view the sections of the NB Green Party Platform where highway tolls are mentioned, click here.

Posted in New Brunswick Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

NB Green Party targets Memramcook-Tantramar for election breakthrough

Posted on August 29, 2018 by brucewark

Local candidate Megan Mitton (L) and federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May at Cranewood rally on Tuesday

Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May helped raise $22,300 in campaign pledges Tuesday evening for provincial Green candidate Megan Mitton during a rally in downtown Sackville that attracted about 200 people.

May conducted what she called a “Dutch auction” starting at a pledge of $3,000 and gradually working her way down to $100 before leading the crowd “in a big rousing cheer” to send a message to Liberal candidate Bernie LeBlanc whose campaign office is just down the street.

“I feel there are a lot more people here tonight than I know a lot of us expected to see,” May said before asking people to put up their hands if this was the first time they had attended a Green Party event.

The crowd broke into cheers and applause when a number of hands went up.

“That’s what I thought,” May shouted. “It’s pretty clear that New Brunswick is the next place where we see Green breakthroughs,” she said, adding, “[Provincial leader] David Coon will not be going back to the legislature alone.”

Green strategy

May’s two-day visit to the area this week highlighted the Green strategy of focusing on a small number of New Brunswick ridings, including Memramcook-Tantramar, where Megan Mitton is running for a second time.

In 2014, Mitton finished third, well behind the Liberals and PCs, but Greens are hoping this time, her higher profile as a Sackville town councillor will help attract more support.

They’re also hoping that the increasing frequency of extreme weather linked to climate change will lead more voters to abandon the traditional parties.

During her speech on Tuesday, Elizabeth May referred to the 500 wildfires burning in British Columbia where she lives.

She said when she visited her family this summer in Cape Breton, it took three days before she could breathe normally again.

“I’ve never before heard weather forecasts that were ‘it’s going to be hot and smoky…air quality warnings remain in effect, it will be hot and smoky,'” she said.

“I sense this from people all over the place, they’re recognizing that climate change isn’t something out there and in the future,” she added, “but it actually has made a difference in how people feel about their current existence, their children’s existence, their grandchildren.”

The crowd applauded as May concluded, “We are, as Greens, all about making sure that our generation ensures that our children and grandchildren have a future, that’s all we are about.”

Health-care event

Provincial leader David Coon with Elizabeth May (L) and Megan Mitton near Sackville hospital

On Wednesday, May joined Mitton on Main Street near the Sackville hospital as provincial leader David Coon outlined Green plans for health-care reform.

It was another high-profile event in Memramcook-Tantramar where Coon has been a frequent visitor.

“There’s many ridings I’m spending time in, but obviously we did very well, Megan Mitton did very well in the last provincial election,” Coon said, “and so, I have no doubt that she will be the next M-L-A for Memramcook-Tantramar.”

Posted in New Brunswick Election 2018 | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

No one taking responsibility for monitoring abandoned tidal turbine

Posted on August 19, 2018 by brucewark

View from the FORCE visitor centre webcam overlooking the Black Rock tidal test site

As the blades continue to turn on an abandoned tidal turbine in the turbulent waters of the Minas Passage, no one seems willing to ensure there is monitoring of their possible effects on fish and other sea creatures.

On Friday, the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) denied it’s responsible for environmental monitoring close to the turbine even though the not-for-profit corporation is legally required as leaseholder to oversee the test site where the turbine was deployed on July 22nd.

Melissa Oldreive, who speaks for FORCE, said in an e-mail that Cape Sharp Tidal Inc., not FORCE, is responsible for monitoring near its turbine and for implementing a contingency plan to replace its environmental sensors which aren’t working.

“We are urging for the implementation of the approved program or contingency plans as soon as possible,” she wrote.

However, Cape Sharp is in financial disarray with one partner, OpenHydro, facing possible bankruptcy and the other partner, Emera Inc., seeking to walk away from the company.

Oldreive said that FORCE has undertaken “a vessel-based hydroacoustic fish survey, which involves measuring fish distribution and densities around the turbine,” but she also confirmed that neither Cape Sharp nor FORCE has deployed an underwater platform equipped with sensors near it.

The sensor platform, known as FAST-EMS, was supposed to have been deployed 30 metres from the turbine by August 10 under a contingency plan approved by regulators at the Nova Scotia Department of the Environment (NSE) and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). The platform is designed to be connected by cable to shore-based computers to provide continuous monitoring of what’s happening near the turbine.

Earlier this year, the regulators warned both FORCE and Cape Sharp to improve environmental monitoring at the site assigning FORCE overall responsibility for ensuring that such monitoring is carried out properly.

To read the letters from NSE and DFO, click here.

In April, FORCE spokesman Matt Lumley said in an e-mail response to my questions that FORCE understood its new responsibilities, although he also wrote that Cape Sharp was developing a contingency plan for monitoring around the turbine.

To read Lumley’s e-mail response, click here.

Before deployment of the turbine, Cape Sharp and FORCE signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlining their respective responsibilities for deployment of the FAST-EMS platform, but Oldreive says she can’t reveal what’s in the MOU because “we keep contractual arrangements private.”

‘Complete debacle’

FORCE’s refusal to accept responsibility for underwater monitoring near the turbine comes as no surprise to Mary McPhee, FORCE’s former facilities manager who quit her job last December.

“There’s no question, they are responsible for the overall monitoring,” McPhee said in a telephone interview from her home in Parrsboro.

She added that previously, FORCE interpreted monitoring requirements to give itself the least amount of responsibility until the regulators stepped in.

“Finally this year, the regulators said, ‘No, you are responsible for all levels, like in some way you have to be responsible because if it’s within the site, you’re the leaseholder, so you need to be responsible within that space,'” McPhee said.

“They (FORCE) are being allowed by the regulators presently to duck this and it is a complete debacle, it is an embarrassment to the (government) policymakers and to the people who have worked hard on this project,” she said.

She added she decided to resign after more than six years at FORCE partly because of her concern that managers there weren’t serious enough about protecting the marine environment.

“What I felt were basic standards and what FORCE feels are basic standards are very different things,” she said. “I could no longer be part of that because it was beginning to affect my reputation.”

Posted in Tidal Power | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Sackville to spend $17k hiring consultants to draft business strategy

Posted on August 17, 2018 by brucewark

Deputy Mayor Ron Aiken

Sackville Town Council has voted to hire outside consultants to draft a business development strategy for the town.

During their meeting on Monday, councillors voted 6 to 2 in favour of hiring Lions Gate Consulting of Vancouver in association with 4L Strategies Consulting of Milford, Nova Scotia at a total cost of $17,250 HST included.

Deputy Mayor Ron Aiken who, along with Councillor Bruce Phinney, voted against the proposal to hire the consultants, said that the town has commissioned many economic and business development studies over more than 20 years, but has never done anything with them.

“They all make the same three points,” Aiken said. “We should encourage small versus large business, that we offer a quality of life and that we have a great location near the TransCanada.”

Aiken said that council is limited in what it can do to promote economic development, yet Sackville is performing well compared to other small, New Brunswick towns.

He mentioned the new Bagtown Brewery, the Terra Beata cranberry storage facility in the industrial park and the re-opening of the former Moloney electrical transformer plant on Bridge Street.

The deputy mayor argued it would make more sense for the town to enlist local expertise when seeking advice on attracting new businesses rather than farming the work out to consultants, especially during a year when council raised taxes by $60,000.

“Spending over 25 per cent of that, including HST, on this particular proposal, doesn’t sit well with me,” Aiken concluded.

Councillor Andrew Black

Councillor Andrew Black spoke strongly in favour of hiring outside consultants even though he stressed the need to get advice and ideas from local residents too.

He also said local groups need to get more involved.

“Something needs to be done about the splintering groups in our community that are involved in economic development,” Black said as he mentioned organizations such as the former Sackville Chamber of Commerce, the Commons and the Rotary Club.

“All of these groups really need to come together and something has to happen in order for our town to develop economically.”

Black said he’s hoping the report from the consultants will point out what the town is doing right and what it’s doing wrong.

“I’m really interested to see what this report is going to bring back as to what Sackville is maybe not looking at properly and thereby changing what we do and how we do it,” he added.

To read earlier coverage of this story, click here.

Posted in Town of Sackville | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Engineering firm will be paid an extra $105k to redesign Sackville flood control project

Posted on August 14, 2018 by brucewark

Deputy Mayor Ron Aiken, seen here at an earlier meeting, voted against giving Crandall more money

Sackville Town Council has authorized Crandall Engineering of Moncton to redesign the second phase of the Lorne Street flood control project at an additional cost of $105,000.

Crandall’s initial designs had to be scrapped after bids on the project came in at around $6 million — nearly double the federal, provincial and town money that had been allocated for it.

During Monday’s meeting, Councillors Michael Tower, Bill Evans, Joyce O’Neil, Megan Mitton and Allison Butcher voted in favour of a motion to pay Crandall the extra fee on top of the thousands it has already received, while Deputy Mayor Ron Aiken along with Councillors Andrew Black and Bruce Phinney voted against it.

“If the engineering firm suggested it would cost three million or so,” Aiken told council, “and the contract proposals came in at twice that, it strikes me that they blew it pretty badly and I’m wondering why we’re giving them so much in additional fees to correct what was really their mistake.”

Councillor Black agreed.

Councillor Bill Evans

“Paying an additional $105,000 to this company that Councillor Aiken said bungled the original approach, doesn’t make any sense to me at all,” Black said, adding later that the extra fee “seems crazy to me.”

Councillor Bill Evans seemed to speak for the majority who voted in favour of the motion when he noted that the town needed to come up with an alternate, affordable plan to mitigate the risk of downtown flooding.

“We’re going to do it differently,” Evans added. “I understand the frustration, but the alternative would be to lose the money that we’ve got from the federal government and not do anything.”

Extra pay for extra work

Town engineer Dwayne Acton suggested that Crandall was entitled to extra money because the new flood control plan will include several features not included in the original one requiring additional engineering and design work.

For one thing, he said, the new plan would likely add a retention pond in the old Sackville Quarry to prevent stormwater from flooding into downtown areas.

And the pond east of Lorne Street and just south of St. James will need to be bigger than in the original design.

Acton explained that under the new plan, stormwater will no longer flow directly through the industrial park to a new, double-gated aboiteau at the Tantramar River.

Instead, it will probably be directed through existing ditches to culverts under the CN tracks at Crescent Street near the old Via Rail station and then, on out to the river past the Armtec plant using existing aboiteaux in the marshy areas along the way.

He said he sees the redesigned plan as a short-term solution until more money becomes available for a longer-term one with an additional retention pond behind the community gardens and the new, double-gated aboiteau near the river that was part of the original design.

Acton said he’s hoping Crandall Engineering will be ready to present the new $2.6 million flood control plan to council during its meeting on September 4th.

To read coverage about surging Phase II costs click here and for my reporting on earlier modifications to the Lorne Street plan, click here.

New aboiteaux on Rte. 935

Detour around construction of new aboiteaux on Rte. 935

Meantime, work has begun on a flood control project on Route 935 in the Carters Brook area of West Sackville.

The New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI) has hired a construction company to install three, six-feet, concrete aboiteaux spaced 10 feet apart to reduce the risk of flooding.

It will also raise the road slightly.

A detour has been built around the project which is expected to be completed by the end of December.

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Emera seeks to abandon its stake in Cape Sharp Tidal Inc.

Posted on August 13, 2018 by brucewark

Emera, parent company of Nova Scotia Power, has announced it’s withdrawing from its partnership in Cape Sharp Tidal Inc., the company that has a test turbine sitting on the bottom of the Minas Passage.

In a statement released today, Emera says it has notified its Irish-based partner OpenHydro of its withdrawal and has also notified liquidator Grant Thornton, the firm that is currently handling OpenHydro’s bankruptcy proceedings.

In July, OpenHydro’s French parent company, Naval Energies, asked an Irish court to appoint a liquidator after calling OpenHydro “seriously insolvent” and pointing to its debts of about $426 million. Naval Energies acted only four days after Cape Sharp deployed the massive turbine at a test site overseen by the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE).

In today’s statement, Emera says Naval Energies’ action left it with no choice but to withdraw from Cape Sharp Tidal in which it holds a 20 per cent stake.

“The surprise application by Naval Energies to Ireland’s High Court on July 26th requesting the liquidation of OpenHydro and Naval Energies’ subsequent statement that it will no longer support or invest in tidal turbines left Emera with no practical choice but to withdraw from Cape Sharp Tidal,” the statement added.

It goes on to say that although Emera did not own or develop the open-centre turbine, it considered OpenHydro’s technology “cutting edge” and believed it was worth investing in a demonstration or test project to prove its viability.

“Without support from the technology developer, OpenHydro, to operate and maintain the technology and the turbine, we do not believe that there is further value in pursuing this project for our business,” Emera’s statement adds.

Responsibility for turbine and local suppliers’ bills

Emera’s statement also suggests that the provisional liquidator Grant Thornton is now responsible for operation of the submerged turbine because it “currently controls the majority interest of OpenHydro Technology in Cape Sharp Tidal…

“Emera has repeatedly reinforced with Grant Thornton the need to continue environmental monitoring and safe operation of the deployed turbine and the importance of meeting all obligations of Cape Sharp Tidal and OpenHydro to local suppliers,” the statement adds.

“It is our understanding that a number of local suppliers have been paid and we will continue to encourage the provisional liquidator to resolve all outstanding items as soon as possible.”

To read the Emera news release, click here.

What about environmental laws?

Meantime, the blades on the 16-metre turbine continue to turn, but the turbine itself has been isolated from the power grid and since its environmental sensors are not working, there’s no way of telling if it’s harming fish or other sea creatures.

A contingency plan requires deployment of a platform equipped with sensors 30 metres from the centre of the turbine within two weeks, but there’s no indication that has been done.

Last week, Nova Scotia’s minister of energy said this situation cannot go on indefinitely, and today an e-mail from his department repeats that message:

“As we have said, this situation cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely. If our expectations are not met, we will consider the appropriate next steps to ensure compliance,” the e-mail says.

Meantime, an e-mail from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans says:

“DFO continues to communicate with Nova Scotia Energy to gain a better understanding of the liquidation of OpenHydro and the next steps for the project. As Cape Sharp Tidal has not complied with conditions of its Fisheries Act Authorization related to environmental monitoring, DFO is evaluating appropriate actions.”

An e-mail from FORCE, which is supposed to oversee the tidal test site, suggests we get in touch with Cape Sharp or the province for answers to any questions about what’s happening with the turbine.

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Sackville moving ahead with 20-acre addition to Waterfowl Park

Posted on August 12, 2018 by brucewark

The Lund property just west of Squire Street will add meadow and woodland to the Sackville Waterfowl Park

At its next meeting on Monday, town council is expected to approve spending $15,000 on improvements to nearly 20 acres of marshy and wooded land that is about to become part of the Sackville Waterfowl Park.

The town is planning to erect a small cairn telling visitors that the land was willed to Sackville by long-time resident Daniel Lund who died in 2013 at the age of 92.

The town is also planning to restore a cobblestone trail that Lund built and create a small visitor parking lot just off Squire Street.

During last week’s council meeting, town manager Jamie Burke said the land was bequeathed to the town under the Ecological Gifts Program — a federal scheme that provides tax breaks to donors. He added the town will seek approval for this first phase of improving the property from Environment Canada as soon as Sackville acquires full ownership of it.

The Lund bequest of nearly 20 acres, adjacent to the Waterfowl Park, lies between the TransCanada Highway and residences on Princess St. bounded on the southeast by Squire St. and on the northwest by the TransCanada Trail

If it approves the $15,000 in improvements, town council will be acting on the advice of the Sackville Waterfowl Park advisory committee which is planning celebrations in October to mark the park’s 3oth anniversary.

For earlier coverage, including a brief history of how the Waterfowl Park began, click here.

Lawn and order

Sackville councillors spent about 18 minutes last Tuesday discussing whether the town needs a bylaw, similar to a recent one passed in Moncton, requiring property owners to keep their lawns, weeds and grasses under 20 centimetres (eight inches) or face fines ranging from $140 to $2,100.

Councillor Joyce O’Neil brought the issue forward partly because of long dried grass at a home close to hers on Bridge Street.

“Our biggest fear out that way is that with all this dead grass, all you need is a cigarette flicked into that and the house is old, the grass has grown in underneath the verandah and to me it’s such a chance of that going up, catching on fire,” O’Neill said, adding that the lives of three small children are at risk in a house next door.

While O’Neil’s colleagues on council agreed that it might be worth discussing the issue further, Councillors Andrew Black, Megan Mitton, Michael Tower and Allison Butcher said such a bylaw isn’t necessary in Sackville.

“I know that lot of people are really bothered by long grass,” said Councillor Butcher adding that it might contribute to the presence of rodents and ticks. However, she added, there are already ticks everywhere.

“I think that a well-manicured, perfectly groomed golf course-looking lawn is environmentally really awful,” Butcher said. “It’s not good for our world, it’s not good for butterflies, it’s not good for bees.”

She said the town bylaw on unsightly premises should cover cases in which people aren’t looking after their properties.

“I think that there are lots of beautiful properties that don’t have lawns mowed and probably don’t own a lawnmower,” Butcher concluded.

In the end, CAO Phil Handrahan promised that staff would prepare a background report on the issues involved in controlling tall grass in case council wants to have further discussion about passing a bylaw to regulate it.

To listen to what was said at last week’s meeting about the issue, click here. (The discussion starts within 30 seconds of the beginning of the meeting.)

A front yard on Main St. in Middle Sackville where flowers, tall grasses, shrubbery and trees occupy most of the space

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Cape Sharp Tidal scrambling to meet deadline for environmental monitoring

Posted on August 9, 2018 by brucewark

Photo shows placement of monitoring platform on the beach at low tide for testing

STORY UPDATED ON FRIDAY AUGUST 10

As the blades on the 16-metre tidal turbine deployed on July 22 in the Minas Passage continue to turn with no monitoring for their potential effects on sea creatures, Cape Sharp Tidal Ventures Inc. (CSTV) and the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) are scrambling to put a contingency monitoring plan in place before government regulators intervene.

In an e-mail to The New Wark Times, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) warns that Cape Sharp must deploy a monitoring platform as outlined on pages 35-36 of its Environment Effects Monitoring Program (EEMP) within the two-week period that began on July 27, 14 days ago. DFO warns that if the company does not meet that deadline, “DFO will assess and determine the appropriate action.”

Cape Sharp not ready

However, judging by an e-mail Thursday from Stacey Pineau, who speaks for Cape Sharp Tidal, the company is not yet in a position to deploy a monitoring platform 30 metres from the centre of the turbine as required under its monitoring program or EEMP.

Instead, she writes that a team “will execute an interim monitoring plan to ensure environmental monitoring data is recorded.”

Pineau did not respond to a request for details about the interim plan, but photos taken at the testing site on Thursday show placement of a platform on the beach at low tide that when submerged would be hundreds of metres from the turbine.

It’s understood that the FAST-2 platform was being tested Thursday and has since been retrieved to download the data it recorded when submerged to see if its sensors are working properly.

Pineau wrote in her e-mail on Thursday that deployment of the required monitoring platform near the turbine has been hampered because the turbine developer OpenHydro, which holds 80 per cent of Cape Sharp, is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings.

Only days after turbine deployment, OpenHydro’s parent company, Naval Energies of France, asked an Irish court to liquidate the company because of debts amounting to $426 million.

Pineau writes that the firm appointed to liquidate OpenHydro is “working to establish environmental monitoring as soon as possible,” but she adds “there have been unforeseen technical challenges due to the liquidation process.”

How will regulators react?

It remains to be seen whether DFO and Nova Scotia’s departments of environment and energy will continue to allow the turbine blades to turn much longer without the close monitoring the regulators require.

On Thursday, Nova Scotia’s energy minister, Derek Mombourquette, told the Canadian Press news agency that the turbine cannot be allowed to sit on the bottom of the Minas Passage indefinitely.

“This can’t go on forever,” CP quotes him as saying. “They (creditors and remaining partners) have indicated that they are implementing a contingency plan and I’m looking forward to what that plan is going to be.”

In a guarded statement e-mailed to The New Wark Times, the provincial environment department said that regulators will “work together to ensure the environment is properly protected.”

To read the full Cape Sharp EEMP including Appendix D which gives more information about the contingency monitoring plan, click here.

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