Clean Energy

Secure affordable energy without worsening climate change

Date: August 3, 2022
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, climate change

Commentary by Sam Arnold|Telegraph Journal August 3, 2022

Premier Higgs made one astute statement as reported in a recent Brunswick News story (Feds, Atlantic provinces aim for energy deal by end of year):

“The goal out of this [agreement] is to have something that’s overarching by the end of the year. We agreed to the whole validation of the requirements, the timing, and the ability to supply energy in a way Atlantic residents can afford. It entails the four provinces to have an overarching look at our energy requirements and not just one-offs.”

The Atlantic Loop is a logical choice for New Brunswick and the other eastern provinces, providing the Indigenous people – the Innu of Sheshatshui and Inuit of the upper Lake Melville and Rigolet, and other Indigenous people in Labrador who were forced to give up so much for the Muskrat Hydro Project. They must be properly compensated for the loss of their traditional hunting and fishing territory.

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Renewable energy is the future, not fossil fuels

Date: May 11, 2022
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, Fracking News, LNG, NBASGA, Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2022

Traditional Land of Wabanaki People/Fredericton – The Conservation Council of New Brunswick and the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance issued the following joint statement in response to Premier Blaine Higgs’ speculation that shale gas and liquified natural gas are solutions to war-induced threats to European gas supply:

Premier Higgs’ talk of ripping up the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing and building an LNG export terminal in Saint John to “save our neighbours internationally” is shortsighted, unrealistic and fails to protect New Brunswickers’ health and safety from the increasing threats of climate change.

In a landmark 2021 report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) concluded that to reach net zero emissions by 2050 no new oil, gas or coal development is possible if the world is to avoid a global temperature increase of 1.5°C.

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NBASGA Comments to New Brunswick Climate Change Committee

Date: February 11, 2022
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, climate change

The provincial government is preparing to write New Brunswick’s next five-year climate action plan and the Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability is seeking public input until Feb. 24, 2022. The following are comments prepared and submitted by NBASGA.

Read the full text below, or download the entire pdf with references: NBASGA Comments to Climate Change Committee

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‘NBASGA files public comments on planned gas pipeline expansion in Havelock

Date: June 18, 2021
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, climate change

(June 18, 2021)  The following comments were submitted to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board on behalf on the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance, Inc., (NBASGA) a collaboration of Anglophone and francophone civic groups across the province, reference a planned gas pipeline expansion in Havelock, NB.

(Information about the project and the Energy Utility Board process can be found here:
https://nbeub.ca/uploads/2021%2006%2003%20-%20Notice%20-%20Public%20Comment%20Opportunity.pdf)

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Environmental groups request federal impact assessment for Goldboro LNG

Date: May 13, 2021
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, climate change, LNG
Proposed liquefied natural gas facility in Nova Scotia raises both legal and environmental concerns

HALIFAX/ TRADITIONAL TERRITORY OF THE MI’KMAQ PEOPLE (13 May 2021) – Eight prominent environmental groups from across the country are urging federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada to ensure that Pieridae Energy’s proposed Goldboro Liquefied Natural Gas export facility project (Goldboro LNG) undergoes a comprehensive, up-to-date federal impact assessment.

Pieridae Energy is currently looking for nearly $1 billion in financial support – taxpayer dollars – from the federal government to move this project forward.

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Reliance on fossil fuels is dangerously short-sighted

Date: December 16, 2020
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, climate change

Commentary by Jim Emberger, Telegraph Journal, Dec. 16, 2020

“Distant hypothetical targets are being set, and big speeches are being given. Yet, when it comes to the immediate action we need, we are still in a state of complete denial.”

These are the recent words of young climate activist, Greta Thunberg, concerning progress toward dealing with the climate emergency. Unfortunately, she could be talking about NB Power’s recent release of its 20-year Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). While claiming to pay attention to the climate crisis, the utility’s plans belie those claims.

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Small nuclear reactors not the solution to the climate crisis

Date: August 31, 2020
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, climate change

Commentary by Sam Arnold, Fredericton Gleaner 31 August 2020

Mr. Kevin Vickers has joined Blaine Higgs in singing their praise of unproven small modular nuclear reactors even though they are at least fifteen years away from going into service. More likely, they never will go into service.

For the sake of present and future generations, already proven means to curb the climate crisis must be launched quickly. Fifteen years is much too long to wait for so-called small modular reactors to come online. They will cost untold millions of dollars to produce and will create additional costs from the radioactive waste that future generations will inherit from us.

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Alberta must diversify, not return to the past

Date: April 14, 2020
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy, climate change

Commentary by Sam Arnold, Times & Transcript, 14 April 2020

In the April 6th Daily Gleaner (A6) Mr. Srebrnik asked why Alberta seems to stagger from one disaster to another. He included COVID-19 to the list of thieves who are out to destroy the oil and gas industry and the province.

Mr. Srebrnik’s arguments fail to evoke the sympathy he is seeking for Alberta’s current economic plight for a number of reasons. Among them, Canada’s transfer payment system has been very successful in distributing Canada’s wealth to all provinces, as intended. As well, it must be noted, Alberta did not continue to build up its rainy-day fund that former Premier Lougheed started, and that subsequent premiers have dipped into when they shouldn’t have. How was it that Alberta’s Heritage Savings Trust Fund amassed $17-Billion in assets by 2014, but now has replaced it with a $15-Billion deficit? Is not the provincial government responsible for the decisions that it makes?

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Beware NB’s next big energy gamble

Date: November 20, 2019
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Clean Energy

By Sam Arnold, Telegraph Journal, Monday, November 18, 2019

We recently learned that the $13 million investment by NB Power and the Regional Development Corporation in Joi Scientific for the production of hydrogen from seawater may be a gamble that is unlikely to pay off.

New Brunswick residents should also be aware that the NB government and NB Power have committed to take taxpayers and ratepayers on another multi-million dollar energy gamble attempting to revive nuclear power. This has all the markings of another fiasco. As well, the Government of Canada has designated billions of dollars for a similar attempt to save the nuclear industry. We are wondering – as you may be – why this did not go public prior to, or during, the federal election.

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