by Jim Emberger, New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance
Published Telegraph Journal, Sep 24, 2026
Jim Emberger of the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance writes that Susan Holt “has resurrected New Brunswick’s most contentious issue ‘for review,’ offering her constituents no explanation for this betrayal beyond the generic statement that, ‘things have changed.'”
Canada’s push to fast‑track “Major Projects” has dismayed many communities that have spent years advocating for environmental protection, public health, and genuine climate action. The New Brunswick Anti‑Shale Gas Alliance (NBASGA) — a 13‑year‑old, province‑wide coalition spanning francophone, anglophone, and Indigenous groups — is one of them. While the federal government’s recent A Force of Nature strategy offered a welcome nod toward ecological stewardship, and the Prime Minister’s “elbows‑up” posture on U.S. trade pressures signaled a willingness to defend Canadian interests, those commitments are increasingly difficult to square with Ottawa’s new enthusiasm for accelerating large‑scale industrial development.
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) has formally urged the New Brunswick government to take a hard look at the health and financial risks tied to natural gas power generation — including the proposed plant in Tantramar. In a detailed submission to the Premier, Minister of Health, Minister of the Environment, and Chief Medical Health Officer, CAPE lays out the well‑documented health hazards linked to methane and diesel emissions, pairing those risks with the real healthcare costs already borne by New Brunswickers and Canadians.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONDAY, July 6, 2026 — TANTRAMAR, N.B.
Gregor MacAskill, representing the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC), has filed an application for judicial review of the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board’s approval of the Renewable Integration and Grid Security Project (RIGS).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY MAY 28, 2026 — Tantramar, New Brunswick
The Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition (PCIC) expresses its deep disappointment and outrage following today’s decision by the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) to approve the Renewable Integration and Grid Security (RIGS) project — a 500 MW fossil fuel gas and diesel plant proposed for wetlands in the Tantramar region of the Chignecto Isthmus.
By Jim Emberger, New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance
Telegraph Journal, Feb 25, 2026
The Energy and Utilities Board hearings over the past two weeks on the proposed Tantramar gas/diesel plant, known as the RIGS project, failed to show a need for the project, and exposed the uncertainty about its high costs relative to electricity output.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tantramar, New Brunswick — Feb 3, 2026
(written by Lisa Griffin)
NB Power is facing mounting criticism over what interveners describe as a non-transparent, last-minute attempt to keep its proposed RIGS gas plant approval afloat — at the expense of fairness, due process, and public accountability.
Just one week before the oral hearing is scheduled to begin on February 9, NB Power filed a package of late evidence at the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board (EUB), introducing a previously undisclosed commercial arrangement — a potential Expansion Tolling Agreement tied to the RIGS project.
In early February 2026 the NB Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) will hold hearings on the proposed Tantramar gas/diesel generating plant, formally known at the ‘Renewables Integration and Grid Security Project’ (RIGS). These hearings are separate from the Environmental Impact Assessment, and are essentially restricted to issues concerning the risks to ratepayers and taxpayers on costs, reliability of supply, and the prudence of the project in meeting the stated need for it.
Commentary: Telegraph Journal – Dec. 18, 2025
By Lisa Griffin
A Sunday, December 14 Brunswick News article quoted Premier Susan Holt claiming there are “no alternatives” capable of meeting New Brunswick’s electricity needs by 2028. That statement is misleading and risks locking the province into an outdated, harmful decision that can still be avoided.
New Brunswickers want reliable power – but they also want clean air, protected wetlands, safe drinking water, and a future that does not mortgage public health for short-term convenience. These goals are not mutually exclusive. Suggesting that fossil-fuel peaker plants are the only solution is both inaccurate and irresponsible.
On Nov 20th, Co-founders of Atlantic Wildlife Institute in Cookville, NB, along with founding members of the Stop The Tantramar Gas Plant group, accompanied by Tantramar MLA, Megan Mitton, traveled to Fredericton to meet with NB Minister of Environment and Climate Change Gilles LePage and his Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) team. They discussed our immediate concerns regarding the Centre Village (Tantramar) 500MW fossil fuel plant planned in the Chignecto Isthmus. Below is the follow up letter to Minister LePage, highlighting once again their concerns for this project. They’re demanding if not at least a full and comprehensive environmental assessment be done, but to fully cancel this project. Please read why this area – the Chignecto Isthmus – is of vital importance and must be saved from industrial development of this scale. The environmental and health effects will be irreversible.