The push to stop New Brunswick’s Tantramar gas plant is gaining momentum.
Local and national advocacy groups are urging the province to rethink the project, even after it cleared a major regulatory hurdle this past spring.
NB Power has a 25-year contract with Missouri-based ProEnergy to set up 10 natural gas turbines in a rural area.
“Why would you put a gas plant in the middle of this ecological jewel?” said Environmental Defence Canada’s associate director, Mike Marcolongo.
The proposed Tantramar generation station would bring a new 500-megawatt natural gas and diesel-fired power plant to southeastern New Brunswick.
NB Power says the plant is needed to help keep the lights on when electricity demand is high, as well as to provide backup power when renewable resources — such as wind and solar — don’t produce enough electricity.
“The Renewables Integration and Grid Security (RIGS) project is an important part of NB Power’s plan to ensure customers to have reliable electricity while supporting the transition to a cleaner energy future,” NB Power said in a statement.
“The RIGS project would help maintain grid stability and energy security and support a cleaner energy future by enabling more renewable energy on the grid while reducing emissions from older, higher-emitting generation sources.”
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But advocates say gas plants come at a high cost.
“There have been many if not all regulatory procedures that have been bypassed in order to rush this project through,” said Lisa Griffin, Protect the Chignecto Isthmus’s coordinator.
“There are problems with the water assessment, problems with the air assessment, problems with the regulatory procedure at the Energy Utility Board. So there are legal teams who are taking on legal action.”
The auditor general said in a June report that NB Power, a provincially-owned energy corporation, entered into a long-term agreement without regulatory approval and selected equipment without studying alternatives, among other missteps.
The project is still undergoing an environmental impact assessment and requires Indigenous consent before approval.
A national advocacy group, Environmental Defence Canada, says its concerns go beyond the project’s estimated $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion price tag, and its potential impact on electricity rates and the environment.
The group alleges gas plants are also known to impact human health.
“The gas plants emit nitrogen oxide, so they contribute to smog. And it does worsen respiratory illnesses,” said Marcolongo.
In June, a group of more than 300 doctors and medical staff renewed their call for an independent study on possible health impacts of the controversial project.
Marcolongo says cleaner alternatives were not fully considered and questions relying on a U.S. company to operate the plant.
He says the main options for dispatchable power that can be accessed quickly are gas plants and battery storage. He adds Ontario recently selected battery storage over new gas generation and that the proposals were actually more cost effective.
However, Energy Minister Rene Legacy says batteries would not provide the capacity needed over a 36- to 72-hour period in a cost-effective manner comparable to the Tantramar project.
“We are aware that the Centre Village project is raising concerns within the community. We respect the questions and views expressed,” he said in a statement.
“While the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board approved the 500-megawatt Renewables Integration Grid Security (RIGS) facility this spring, it is still going through an Environmental Impact Assessment through the Department of Environment. It is important that the EIA be allowed to be completed in the interest of fairness.”
Environmental Defence Canada says they will continue to challenge the project through the regulatory process and public pressure.
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