Yesterday, the president of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick was quoted in two articles, in which she warned the Legislative Assembly’s select committee on climate change that New Brunswick has missed clean energy opportunities more than once because of the province’s obsession with the oil and gas industry.
Global News and CHSJ both reported on Liane Thibodeau’s presentation, where she said that with the cost of renewable energy going down, New Brunswick needs to get with the program or she fears New Brunswick will be left behind.
“Over the next 30 years, more than $7 trillion will be invested worldwide in renewable energy projects. I think it’s important for us to start focusing some of our energies on accessing that kind of investment,” Thibodeau said.
Thibodeau predicts that oil and gas will soon fade into the past, much like the photography company Kodak, which filed for bankruptcy a few years ago.
“And why did that happen? The digital camera,” says Thibodeau. “And they even developed some of the technology that would take the digital camera forward, but at the time they were saying digital cameras are expensive, they don’t have enough storage.”
“So if we look at today with the oil and gas sector, and we look at renewable energy, we hear the same kinds of things,” says Thibodeau.
The committee continues hearings in Saint John on Wednesday before wrapping up in Fredericton Thursday and Friday.
Read Liane’s full presentation here.
Read the full Global News story here.
Read the full CHSJ Country 94.1 story here.
Read Dr. Louise Comeau’s full presentation here.