Attention News Editors: Louise Comeau, Director of Climate Change and Energy Solutions with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, issued the following statement today with respect to federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada Steven Guilbeault’s comments at COP26 and recent statements in the provincial legislature on phasing out coal in New Brunswick. She is available for interviews.
“This week, MLA Megan Mitton asked Premier Higgs during question period if his government will follow our neighbours in Nova Scotia by committing to phase out coal by 2030 and invest in locally-owned renewable energy sources in N.B. right now.
Neither Premier Higgs nor Environment Minister Gary Crossman could give a direct answer to this important question.
We have the answer.
The Higgs government should immediately withdraw its request to continue burning coal at the Belledune plant to 2040 through an equivalency agreement with Ottawa. Just yesterday, speaking to world leaders at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, federal Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Canada, Steven Guilbeault, said his government is “committed to phasing out coal no later than 2030.”
This should signal to Premier Higgs and Minister Crossman that now is the time to commit to and plan for the federal government’s mandated 2030 coal phase out.
It is time to listen to what New Brunswickers want for their electricity system and to do what scientists around the world say is needed to avoid climate catastrophe. We must start investing today in New Brunswick-owned and locally-owned renewable energy.
New Brunswick is fortunate to have leaders in forward-thinking municipalities, First Nations, and solar and wind entrepreneurs who are already making the shift to non-polluting energy happen. We need to continue down this road, together, with the provincial government doing its part.
It is possible for New Brunswick to phase out fossil fuels by 2030 and power our homes and businesses with non-polluting energy if we connect regionally in an Atlantic loop and invest now in locally-owned renewable energy such as solar and wind.
We look forward to confirmation on the 2030 coal phase out from New Brunswick and the federal government in the coming weeks.”
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Recommended links:
- Read our Oct. 26, 2021 letter to the Hon. Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s new Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Canada, on rejecting New Brunswick’s request to continue burning coal into 2040, here.
- Read our July 2021 letter to Hon. Jonathan Wilkinson, then Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, calling on the federal government to reject New Brunswick’s proposal for an equivalency agreement on coal, here.
- Read our response to Minister Holland’s proposal to continue burning coal at the Belledune Generating Station, here.
For more information to arrange an interview, contact:
Jon MacNeill, Communications Director: jon.macneill@conservationcouncil.ca | 506-238-2529