Latest news with #MeganMitton
CBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Big emissions estimate a worst-case scenario, gas plant builder says
Social Sharing The U.S. company hired to build a natural gas plant in southeast New Brunswick says an annual greenhouse gas emissions estimate of 900,000 tonnes per year is a worst-case scenario that is unlikely to come to pass. That figure, contained in the company's environmental impact assessment submission, is nine times higher than what N.B. Power said when the plant was first announced last December. But a spokesperson for ProEnergy said the number comes from a "stressed case" scenario in which the plant would be "responding to a major upheaval in the grid," operating at full capacity for almost one-third of the year. "In our experience, this type of operation would not happen over a long duration period as market conditions and grid operations would respond appropriately," spokesperson Chris Evans said in an emailed statement ot CBC News. WATCH | Gas plant will help lower N.B. emissions overall, company says: How much carbon dioxide will a proposed new gas plant emit? 44 minutes ago Evans said the estimate of 100,000 tonnes from N.B. Power is "the expected, typical operation of a peaking plant" like the one it plans to build. Green MLA Megan Mitton, whose Tantramar riding is where the plant will be built, called the difference between the estimates "an astounding gap." Following ProEnergy's explanation, Mitton said she still questioned the need for a new natural gas plant to generate electricity. "This supposed transition fuel — this transition is taking way too long," she said. "It's not actually a transition. It's keeping us locked in with this type of infrastructure. We shouldn't be building new fossil fuel infrastructure." N.B. Power said it will buy electricity from the plant to provide backup power to the utility's growing use of renewable wind and solar energy. Because those sources aren't constant, the grid requires a more reliable base load of electricity it can turn on and off quickly when it's needed. Both N.B. Power and ProEnergy said the gas plant will allow the utility to use less electricity from fuel oil at the Coleson Cove plant and from coal at Belledune, leading to a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 250,000 tonnes a year. Mitton said there's debate about whether natural gas is any better than coal because of methane leakage that can happen in the natural gas supply chain. ProEnergy's EIA assessment said N.B. Power looked at other options, including energy conservation to lower consumption, and large-scale battery storage of renewable energy to meet peak demand. But other options weren't enough to head off a potential shortfall of electricity generation as early as 2028, the submission says. ProEnergy is seeking approval for a plant with 10 turbines capable of generating 500 megawatts of power, though the agreement with N.B. Power is for 400 megawatts from eight turbines. The utility said this week it could sign agreements with other provinces to add those two turbines and export the electricity regionally. Mitton said people in her Tantramar riding are just starting to hear about the gas plant and are questioning whether it's needed and why N.B. Power selected an American company in the midst of a trade dispute with the U.S. N.B. Power vice-president Brad Coady said the utility invited bids long before the trade dispute began, and five companies submitted bids, including Canadian companies. "We went with who could deliver the least-cost solution on the schedule that N.B. Power is demanding to meet our energy security needs," he said. "If you look at it through those two lenses, our chosen partner in this project by far was the best solution for New Brunswickers." The project must go through a federal environmental assessment. The provincial government is able to waive the need for a separate provincial review. Work is projected to start at the site early next year, with the plant operational in the third quarter of 2028.
CBC
11-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Green MLAs want quicker action on glyphosate report
Three and a half years after a report recommended tighter restrictions on glyphosate spraying, some lawmakers say the pace of implementation has been too slow. "It's clear that not a lot of work was done on it in that time," Green MLA Megan Mitton said. "There were some things completed and some things very recently completed, but I would have liked to see more progress." The report by the legislature's committee on climate change and environmental stewardship made a number of recommendations on the future of herbicide spraying in the province. It followed extensive hearings with scientists, foresters, Health Canada researchers, First Nations, industry and the public. The recommendations included larger setbacks from dwellings and watercourses, that N.B. Power phase out aerial glyphosate spraying and an analysis of potential alternatives. In an update to the committee, Christie Ward, the assistant deputy environment minister, said 11 of 20 recommendations have been "completed" to date, while the remaining nine are underway. Some MLAs pointed out, however, that what the department has implemented is not what the initial report actually recommended. "When you went through the recommendations of the committee that were unanimously adopted, you pointed to a number of those recommendations that were marked as completed, which were not implemented as recommended," David Coon told department staff Wednesday. "So essentially you rejected those recommendations." For example, the report called for setbacks from dwellings to increase to one kilometre from 500 metres. Ward said permits for aerial glyphosate spraying issued last year increased setbacks to 500 metres from 155 metres. Instead of the minimum 100-metre setback from watercourses recommended in the report, ground application requirements were moved to 30 metres from 15 metres, and aerial spraying requires a minimum distance of 65 metres. Ward said that the department has spent time trying to understand the intent of the committee's recommendations and to carry out the spirit of them, even those based on a misunderstanding of the regulations that already existed. "These recommendations are complex in some cases, many of them require rigorous scientific review, they also require a baseline of information, so you know where you're starting from and where you need to get to," she said. "There's been a lot of work done in the background to really understand all aspects of the pesticide program." But Mitton said she'd prefer a more direct answer from the department on whether the committee's recommendations have been followed. "When the auditor general has a report, there's a response from the department and then there's an update," she said. "I almost feel like we need a bit more of a formal process, or to bring them in more often, to keep that accountability going because I don't accept some of those answers as a checkmark." Environment Minister Gilles LePage backed up his staff, noting the report, which he helped prepare as an opposition member of the committee, did err at times in its understanding of existing regulations. However, LePage agreed with other comments over the pace of action on the report over the last few years. "In the past six years, I think there was a lack of work on that file, and that's why it's part of my mandate," he said. "I was part of the evolution of pesticides in this province, with the research on this committee, and I take it personally, and we are going to focus on pesticides even more than the previous government." LePage's mandate letter from Premier Susan Holt includes two mentions of herbicide spraying. One is to implement all recommendations from the committee's report. The other is to investigate alternatives to pesticide and herbicide use and "re-evaluate the safety of glyphosate with new and comprehensive data specific to New Brunswick." "We're looking daily and monthly on the impacts of how it's done," he said. "But don't forget, our regulations are very strong and very rigid for application and for use."
