Traditional Land of Wabanaki People/Fredericton – The Conservation Council of New Brunswick has submitted feedback on the province’s draft regulation, Phasing Out of Coal-fired Electricity Generation – Climate Change Act, which contains the province of New Brunswick’s proposal for an equivalency agreement with the federal government to continue burning coal at the Belledune Generating Station into the 2040s.
The Conservation Council has serious concerns with New Brunswick’s plan to continue burning coal beyond the federal government’s mandated 2030 phase-out of coal-fired electricity.
In its submission to Minister Gary Crossman, sent July 12, 2021 and signed on by 15 national and New Brunswick groups, the Conservation Council calls on the province to:
- Acknowledge that burning fossil fuels beyond 2030 to generate electricity does not comply with the global carbon budget, increases provincial carbon liabilities, and could increase costs for ratepayers relative to non-polluting options like renewable and storage technologies.
- Amend the proposed equivalency agreement to:
- Increase transparency through inclusion of the reference case and emissions reduction calculations, broken out by year to 2040 to demonstrate equivalency relative to the reference case and allow for stakeholder review.
- Require NB Power to prepare and publicly release its proposed plan for achieving its equivalent greenhouse gas reductions.
- Require public release of NB Power annual and compliance reports.
- Affirm citizens’ rights to petition the Minister to investigate offences under the equivalency agreement regulation.
- Develop a decarbonization and electrification strategy for the province to support the rapid transition to a non-polluting electricity system.
The Conservation Council has sent a letter to the Hon. Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, calling on the federal government to reject New Brunswick’s proposal for an equivalency agreement.
The letter, also sent July 12, 2021, says that such an agreement runs counter to the spirit of Canada’s promotion of coal phase-out in its work with the Powering Past Coal Alliance and undermines Canada’s credibility as the world prepares for critical climate negotiations at the 26th Conference of the Parties meeting in Glasgow this November.
The Conservation Council of New Brunswick says it is in the public interest to end coal-fired power generation and create a plan for decarbonizing the electricity system in our province.
In a June 2021 survey on electricity issues by the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, 70 per cent of New Brunswickers said they want the province to close coal plants and replace the electricity with renewable energy such as solar and wind generated in our province.
The Conservation Council calls on the province to listen to its citizens and protect them from the increasing threats of climate change by building a reliable, sustainable and affordable renewable electricity system in New Brunswick.
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To arrange an interview, contact:
Jon MacNeill, Communications Director, Conservation Council of New Brunswick | jon.macneill@conservationcouncil.ca | 506-238-3539