Higgs must get real about LNG export

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

Commentary by Louise Comeau | Telegraph Journal, August 3, 2022

Premier Blaine Higgs is pushing for a private-sector company, Repsol, to convert its Saint John LNG (liquefied natural gas) import terminal into an export terminal for energy security, economic development and energy transition. We are told that shipping LNG to Europe can address energy security issues due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Premier Higgs says we could convert the Saint John plant from an import facility to an export facility within three years. He says there could be economic development if we lift the province’s shale gas moratorium to speed up the process and make the conversion more cost-effective relative to other methane gas supply and pipeline options. And, the premier claims New Brunswick can advance energy transition as the LNG terminal could “easily be converted” to hydrogen in the future.

Are these arguments factual? You decide.

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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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Mi’kmaq Matters Podcast: Blaine Higgs Uses the F-Word

Date: July 1, 2022
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Most Asked Questions
Episode 223 of the Mi’kmaq Matters Podcast:  Glenn Wheeler interviews Jim Emberger of the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance about Premier Higgs’ goal to start an LNG industry and revive fracking in New Brunswick.

“If Blaine Higgs tries to start fracking in New Brunswick once again, he’s very likely to see the same resistance from First Nations and other land defenders that rocked the province nearly a decade ago.”

Listen to the Podcast here.

 

 

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Climate goals can’t be met if N.B. expands gas production

Date: June 30, 2022
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Most Asked Questions

by Jim Emberger | Commentary Telegraph Journal, 28 June 2022

A recent Brunswick News editorial admitted Canadian fossil fuel companies might not profit on the misfortunes of the war in Ukraine (“Think long-term on resource projects,” June 17). That should have been a foregone conclusion.

Europe’s search for natural gas to replace Russian supplies logically pointed it toward nations that could fill its needs immediately. Many European nations also stressed that their climate crisis plans to reduce gas usage as quickly as possible were still in effect.

Canada would take years to become a European supplier, by which time there may no longer be a demand. Large fossil fuel projects are also generally planned for 30-year lifespans to recoup the massive financial investment involved. So, investors in Canada would risk their investments becoming stranded (essentially, lost) if the Europeans stick to their climate pledges.

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Environmental groups appeal public interest standing decision in case related to Goldboro LNG

Date: June 6, 2022
Author: NBASGA
Categories: LNG, Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nova Scotia court denies standing to environmental groups to challenge Minister’s project approval

[Le français suit]

HALIFAX/ TRADITIONAL TERRITORY OF THE MI’KMAQ PEOPLE – Ecojustice, on behalf of our clients, is appealing a recent Court decision which denied our clients public interest standing in a case challenging the Nova Scotia Minister of the Environment and Climate Change’s approval of a highway realignment central to the proposed Goldboro LNG project.

Ecology Action Centre and the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance (NBASGA), represented by Ecojustice, launched a judicial review in July 2021, challenging the approval for the rerouting of Highway 316 in Nova Scotia. The groups raised concerns about the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions the project would enable as well as risks of environmental contamination due to abandoned gold mines in the area.

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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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Guilbeault is Simply Doing His Job

Date: March 23, 2022
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Most Asked Questions

by Jim Emberger – Letter to the Editor, Telegraph Journal & Daily Gleaner

A recent editorial in Brunswick News accused the Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, of misfeasance, because he isn’t promoting Canadian fossil fuel exports to Europe.  Besides displaying a lack of understanding of the climate crisis, the editorial argument is without merit.

To begin: Guilbeault is the Minister of the Environment. Protecting the environment is his primary mandate.  He doesn’t work for the industry promoters that run the Natural Resources ministry.

Next: the overarching threat to the environment everywhere is the climate crisis, referred to in Guilbeault’s Mandate Letter as an, ‘existential crisis’, the solution to which is to stop using fossil fuels.

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Climate Change Won’t Wait for Politics

Date: March 1, 2022
Author: NBASGA
Categories: climate change

Commentary by Jim Emberger, Telegraph Journal, The Daily Gleaner, The Times Transcript, March 1, 2022

Martin Wightman forsakes scientific reasoning for political rhetoric, by suggesting that it can make climate sense to burn more fossil fuels, so long as Canada can profit by it.

The single salient fact, stated by virtually the entire global climate science community, is that there cannot be any new fossil fuel development if we want to stop the climate catastrophe – period.

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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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Finances holding back mining development

Date: August 20, 2021
Author: NBASGA
Categories: Mining, Water Issues

Commentary by Jim Emberger, The Daily Gleaner, The Times Transcript, August 19, 2021

Martin Wightman’s recent column on the future of natural resource mining in Canada (“Don’t let China corner the market on critical minerals”) made some valid points – but also had some serious oversights.

As part of the decision process surrounding future mining projects, he says we should “mitigate the environmental concerns of mining and ensure local communities aren’t decimated.”  I’m sure most people would agree with this. But then he makes the contrary suggestion that we must also reduce government regulations on mining, and change our “attitude” toward it as well.

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