The Conservation Council’s Director of Climate Change and Energy Solutions, Dr. Louise Comeau, was quoted in article published on August 12, 2016 in the Globe and Mail on the federal government’s push to accelerate phasing-out of coal power as part of its pan-Canadian climate strategy.
“It has to be managed, but managed it must be,” said Dr. Comeau.
While Ontario closed its last coal-powered plant in 2014 and Alberta has announced a plan to phase out coal by 2030, provinces such as Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia all currently plan to continue burning coal into the 2040s. No new regulatory deadline has been set yet, but Dr. Comeau expects we’ll see one soon.
In a statement made to Calgary Herald, federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna confirmed that the federal government is currently in discussion with provinces over the proposed move up of the timeline for phasing out coal-powered plants.
In the article McKenna said that a coal phase-out is being discussed should come as “no surprise” considering that electricity is the fourth biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions and coal is the most polluting component.
In 2014, New Brunswick generated about 15 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Over 30% of those emissions came from the province’s electricity sector. Nearly 3 million tonnes of GHG came from the Belledune coal-fired electrical generating station.
According to a report released by Environment Canada in 2012, New Brunswick has the third highest per capita emissions after Alberta and Saskatchewan in 2010.
“Clean electricity will lower our emissions, improve the air our families breathe and reduce smog days, while creating new jobs and investment opportunities for Canadians,” she said in her statement.
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Read the Conservation Council’s statement in response to the Federal government’s intention to accelerate the phase-out of coal, here.
Read Louise Comeau’s commentary, published in Telegraph Journal, on the Conservation Council’s recently unveiled Climate Action Plan.
Read the Conservations Council’s Bold, Made-in-New Brunswick Plan to Address Climate Change.
Read the full Globe and Mail article here.
Read the full Calgary Herald article here.