• “Courts ‘Recognizing the Obvious on Climate”

    “Courts ‘Recognizing the Obvious on Climate”

    Telegraph Journal, Daily Gleaner, Times Transcript - March 11, 2019

    The New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance was an intervener in the recent Saskatchewan Court of Appeals reference case on the federal carbon pricing “backstop.”

    Those opposing carbon pricing portrayed the case as strictly a constitutional matter of jurisdiction, and chose not to discuss the issue of climate change. However, one of the first questions the Chief Justice asked Saskatchewan’s lawyer was: “If (climate change) literally imperils the future of the planet, should it be taken into account?” 

    There was little doubt why the Justice asked this question. The Court had received overwhelming evidence about climate change and its calamitous effects. 

    Our group submitted judicial decisions from courts around the world, based on the principle that increased greenhouse gases emissions from anywhere, no matter how small the amount, add to the global totals that threaten everyone. 

    Clearly the courts are now recognizing the obvious about climate change and the elemental part fossil fuels play in it. 

    Saskatchewan and its co-plaintiffs, realizing that being “deniers” is no longer politically acceptable, proclaim concern about climate change. But their claims ring hollow, as all these provinces have recently elected Progressive Conservative governments whose climate policies belie their words.

    Sadly, New Brunswick is a case in point. Its signature energy policies of a new shale gas industry and a resurrection of the Energy East bitumen pipeline contradict concern about climate change, despite official rhetoric to the contrary.

    The first necessity to slow climate change is to stop creating additional greenhouse-gas emissions from new fossil fuel sources. This is the very thing that carbon pricing is designed to deter.

    How could New Brunswick meet any greenhouse gas limits while starting a shale gas industry that would create huge volumes of emissions from leaking methane and from burning large quantities of diesel fuel and gasoline?

    Reviving Energy East is a fantasy few experts consider viable, not least because its approval would have to consider the climate effects of its upstream and downstream emissions. It didn’t face that requirement last time around, but would now.

    By misreading climate change considerations, and fossil fuel market forces, our government’s policies both suffered setbacks.

    After promising that Corridor Inc. had millions of dollars to immediately invest in local shale gas, the premier appeared to be blindsided when Corridor said it wouldn’t be drilling new wells until 2021, and only if it found a financial partner.

    This should not have been a surprise. The gas market is flooded. Shale gas has never been profitable for lenders and investors, who are now demanding long-delayed paybacks. The easy money spigot is closing, making it tougher to get financial backing.

    A recent Supreme Court decision, finding environmental clean-up obligations have precedence over repaying loans, has made banks warier about fossil fuel investments.

    Mr. Higgs has countered with the position that local shale gas could replace gas from Nova Scotia’s about-to-close Sable Island facility. However, gas suppliers, noting that a new local shale gas solution was years away, announced they would supply the Maritimes with western gas via the pipeline that was the centrepiece of Energy East. 

    With Energy East dead, and with no apparent market justification for local shale gas, Mr. Higgs now gives us a truly convoluted policy rationalization for both.

    He would have us believe a local shale gas industry (years in the making) would convince gas pipeline companies and western producers to give up their Maritime business, and once again go through the near-impossible task of Energy East approval.

    Besides needing dozens of things to go exactly right, the many years required would bring this plan to fruition at the very time when fossil fuels must be reduced by nearly half, and when carbon pricing would be at a maximum. It strains credulity.

    Readers should note these setbacks to the premier’s plans are not due to political opposition, or environmental activism, but rather to business decisions and market forces in the industry. 

    Climate change, by necessity, will be a major market force in reducing fossil fuels, while cheap renewable energy is another. 

    Energy planners and pundits should begin recognizing the obvious, as Alberta just did in contracting three new solar farms to provide 55 per cent of the government’s electricity, at nearly half the cost of natural gas.

    The U.S. Permian Basin, the heart of shale oil, produces so much accompanying gas they pay to get rid of it. Yet, plans for the industry’s electricity needs include a solar farm and the world’s largest battery.

    Despite many similar examples, Mr. Higgs maintains renewable energy is still too expensive, and continues dealing in the false hopes of fossil fuel riches. Both ideas are from a bygone era.

    The climate threat and market forces clearly indicate there is no future in a local shale gas industry. We, too, need to recognize the obvious.

    Jim Emberger is spokesperson for the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance, an organization intervened in the recent court challenge over carbon pricing in Saskatchewan.

  • CCNB releases interactive tool for finding out where the Energy East pipeline meets our waters


    FREDERICTON — The Conservation Council of New Brunswick has released a powerful tool that shows people just how close the proposed Energy East oil pipeline will be to their home, cottage or favourite fishing hole.

    The interactive Google Map allows users to see the nearly 300 points at which the oil pipeline will intersect rivers and streams in New Brunswick. It was generated using Google Earth Pro and documents from TransCanada Corporation, the North American oil and gas giant proposing to build the 4,600-kilometre Energy East oil pipeline from the tarsands in Alberta to export terminals in Quebec and Saint John.

    “It’s a really neat tool,” said Stephanie Merrill, Freshwater Protection Program Coordinator for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick. “Whenever someone asks about the pipeline, I can bring up the map on my iPad and say, ‘there’s the route, and that’s how close your family cottage is to it.’ Or, ‘there’s the pipeline slicing through the river you’ve fished for years.”

    The Conservation Council is calling on New Brunswickers to use the tool and see how the proposed pipeline will affect them. We’re encouraging people to share stories of their favourite fishing holes, hunting grounds, family cottages or homesteads that are in the pipeline’s path.  

    View the mapon our website.

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  • CCNB’s Fundy Baykeeper applauds restart of Energy East Pipeline Review and calls for a reform of the NEB before the review moves forward



    PRESS RELEASE

    CCNB’s Fundy Baykeeper applauds restart of Energy East Pipeline Review and calls for a reform of the NEB before the review moves forward

    The Conservation Council of New Brunswick’s Fundy Baykeeper applauds the National Energy Board’s decision on Friday to restart the Energy East review process.

    “This is an important decision, but not an unexpected one,” said Fundy Baykeeper Matt Abbott. “Given the questions of bias hanging over all decisions made by the last National Energy Board panel, the only way to move forward was to void all the past panel members’ decisions.”

    The ruling was made following  the filing of a Notice of Motion with the NEB on Jan 10 by Ecojustice lawyers representing Transition Initiative Kenora (TIK) calling for the Energy East proceedings to be declared void as a consequence of reasonable apprehension of bias.  Read the Motion here.

    The project’s 2016 hearings were suspended late last August, after complaints were filed against two NEB board members – Jacques Gauthier and Lyne Mercier– who met privately with former Quebec premier Jean Charest while he was being paid as a consultant to TransCanada Corp. The review panel recused itself shortly afterwards, prompting demands that the review process be restarted.

    All decisions made by the previous panel members are void and will be removed from the official hearing record. Those who’ve already applied to participate need not reapply, but essentially everything re-starts.

    Abbott says that this decision won’t fix the NEB process regarding Energy East. The current process was put in place by the Harper Government and has been roundly criticized by many.

    “The Energy East review should be delayed until a modernized review process is in place. Given the problems with NEB that the Energy East review has brought into focus, it is clear that we cannot have confidence in the NEB as it is currently constituted,” said Abbott.

    “In uncertain, stressful times, it is good to know that a massive, dangerous, project like Energy East does not loom as close as it appeared to a few short months ago.”

    According the NEB media release issued this morning, previous decisions that have been voided include:

    • Determination that the Energy East and Eastern Mainline applications are complete;
    • Decision to review the Energy East and Eastern Mainline applications via a single hearing;
    • List of Participants and any subsequent individual rulings on participation;
    • Lists of Issues and factors to be included in the environmental assessments under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012; and Hearing Order.
    -30-

    To arrange an interview contact: Matt Abbott at 506-321-0429

    The Fundy Baykeeper works for the Conservation Council to defend the public’s right to a healthy Bay of Fundy. Matt uses a  well-marked boat to patrol the Fundy coastline from Alma to St. Stephen. The Fundy Baykeeper is also part of the international Waterkeeper Alliance.

    For more information on how the proposed Energy East pipeline would affect the Bay of Fundy, read the National Resource Defense Council’s report on tanker traffic in the Bay of Fundy: Sensitive Marine Ecosystems Threatened by Energy East’s ‘Aquatic Pipeline.’

    For a full list of New Brunswick waterways at risk from Energy East, check out our interactive map.

    For more information on the risks of Energy East to the communities of the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine, read the Conservation Council’s report: Tanker Traffic and Tar Balls: What TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline Means for the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine.

    For more on the Energy East pipeline, check out:

  • Commentary: What we don't know can hurt us

    Jim Emberger,Spokesperson
    New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance

    [A slightly edited version of this appeared in “The Telegraph-Journal”and ”The Daily Gleaner” on May 17, 2019, under the the title ‘Public not well-informed on climate change’.]

    I recently met a crew from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, who were installing a new structure to count salmon smolt on the Tay River. In recent years the count has been disappointingly small, so new and better information is needed.

    It’s always heartening to see dedicated people working to save our environment, but this morning I was left feeling that their task was like trying to hold back the tide.

    I had just read the United Nations report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. It concluded that human activities have pushed one million plant and animal species to the brink of extinction.

    The reporting agency’s chair stated, "The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health, and quality of life worldwide."

    Seems like the kind of consequential information everyone needs to know. But mainstream media barely covered it. Since most people still get their news from mainstream media, the citizens, politicians, pundits and publishers who will shape our future will do so in ignorance of the real world.

    We just witnessed a similar failure of the press in the debate over carbon pricing, which took place with hardly any discussion of the essential context of the climate crisis.

    Carbon pricing began simultaneously with the release of a momentous scientific report showing that Canada is warming at two or three times the rate as the rest of the world. One of the consequences is increased precipitation.

    Days later another study reported that the arctic, as we have known it, is gone. High temperatures, that crush records by double digits, have altered almost every part of the arctic ecosystem, pushing it into a new state of existence.

    This will seriously impact global weather patterns, especially in our Northern hemisphere. One researcher warned, “What happens in the arctic does not stay in the arctic.”

    Other studies note that feedback loops, like melting permafrost (twelve times faster than thought), are increasing the speed and intensity of warming, and that the latest climate models show that former ‘worst case’ scenarios may, in fact, prove to be the norm.

    These reports each contained enough important news on causes, effects, and necessary actions to provide daily news stories for weeks.

    Actual media coverage lasted one or two days for the Canadian story, while the other stories received essentially no coverage.

    These studies were all released as eastern Canada was enduring the second ‘once-in-a-generation’ flood in two years. A responsible media could have informed the public of the connection between these stories and events.

    Instead, week after week, media climate news consisted solely of variations of the PC party’s political narrative, that a modest price on carbon pollution was somehow an assault on our freedom.

    This ‘debate’, consisting almost entirely of conjecture, crowded out the factual context of the climate crisis. One would think that carbon pricing, rather than a climate crisis, was threatening our world.

    Another missing story was that new audits of the emission targets of the Paris climate treaty reaffirmed that “any production from new oil and gas fields, beyond those already in production or development,” will take us beyond safe limits.

    This means that exploiting new tarsands or shale gas will render our other climate plans meaningless.

    Perhaps, not knowing this explains how Premier Higgs, pundits, publishers, and economists can express concerns for flood victims in one breath, while in the next breath promote new fossil fuel projects whose development will help to ensure a growing supply of future flood victims.

    If they had good climate information, politicians might be aware that raising roads won’t help us, unless we do something to keep future floodwaters from rising even higher.

    The media’s failure to provide context has consequences.

    The effort necessary to slow climate change is often compared to fighting World War II. It will require universal consensus that recognizes the vastness of the problem, the substantial work required, and that some sacrifices may be needed, but also that the task is necessary, we can do it, and that any hardships are justified by guaranteeing a liveable future for ourselves and our children.

    The climate crisis is the definitive ‘we are all in this together’ issue.

    The press has made getting this necessary consensus much harder. The outrage fostered by its focus on the politics of carbon pricing, was not balanced by sober reasoning about limiting fossil fuels.

    Angry people, whipped into a divisive frenzy by a one-sided argument, are not easily drawn back together.

    In one of the least reported parts of the Appeals Court carbon pricing decision, the five justices unanimously agreed that, “climate change has emerged as a major threat, not just to Canada, but to the planet itself.”

    We all need to be privy to the same proof that convinced the Court of that conclusion. Providing it should be the daily job of the press.

    Otherwise, the press simply becomes the enabler of ignorance. And as Mother Nature keeps reminding us, “what we don’t know can hurt us.”

  • Community Group Recognized for Environmental Work

    For Immediate Release
    October 30, 2017

    On Saturday, October 28, 2017, an environmental award was presented to New Brunswick citizens in honour of exemplary service to their community.

    The Red Head Anthony’s Cove Preservation Association was honoured with the Phoenix Award “in recognition of their unfaltering and ultimately successful commitment to defending their community and home from the threat of heavy industrial development.” The Phoenix Award is dedicated annually to a group or individual who has dedicated their efforts to policies and legislation and have been through “the fire”.

    The tank farm and marine export terminal for the Energy East pipeline were slated to be built in Red Head, in East Saint John. Concern over the environmental impact of this project to their home community and communities across the country and around the Bay of Fundy caused local residents to organize against the Energy East pipeline. Due to their efforts, alongside those of many along the entire route of the proposed pipeline, the Energy East proposal was withdrawn by TransCanada earlier this month.

    Raissa Marks, Executive Director of the New Brunswick Environmental Network, praised the efforts of the Red Head Anthony’s Cove Preservation Association. “They impressed many in the environmental movement and beyond. They showed that dedicated, hard-working citizens can stand up to big industry, build broad alliances, and come out of a big challenge stronger and more united. Red Head residents were at ‘the end of the line’, and showed that, regardless of where you are located, standing up matters.”

    The award was presented during the New Brunswick Environmental Network’s annual meeting, Eco-Confluence, which was held in Fredericton over the weekend. Each year, significant efforts by citizens and citizen groups toward the protection and restoration of New Brunswick’s environment are recognized at a special awards ceremony.

    The New Brunswick Environmental Network is a non-profit communications network of over 100 citizens’ environmental groups from across the province. The goal of the Network is to encourage communication and collaboration among groups and between groups, government and other sectors.

    - 30 -

    Award Presentation Gordon Lynaya for web
    Gordon Dalzell, Citizens Coalition for Clean Air, presenting the 2017 Phoenix Award to Lynaya Astephen, Red Head Anthony's Cove Preservation Association.  Photo Credit: Pascale Ouellette
  • Conservation Council's Fundy Baykeeper on the appointment of the panel to review the proposed Energy East Pipeline




    PRESS RELEASE

    STATEMENT BY CONSERVATION COUNCIL'S MATT ABBOTT ON THE APPOINTMENT OF THE PANEL TO REVIEW THE PROPOSED ENERGY EAST PIPELINE

    January 10, 2017

    (Fredericton, NB) The Conservation Council’s Fundy Baykeeper says it should be “back to the drawing board” for the review of the proposed Energy East pipeline project, the largest ever pipeline proposed in Canada – one that would cross over 300 rivers and streams in New Brunswick and would export oil from its terminus in Saint John by supertanker across the Bay of Fundy and down through the Gulf of Maine.

    “The announcement of the replacement of the project’s review panel members is but one small part of a complicated, and sorely discredited, process,” said Matt Abbott.

    “Federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr announced an expert panel in November to make recommendations on how the NEB can be modernized, especially with respect to First Nations consultation and support, improved public participation, credible information on the potential impact to Canada’s water systems, including the Bay of Fundy, and squaring oil export with Canada’s plan to reduce carbon pollution,” said Abbott.

    “It’s difficult to see how the new panel could embark on any credible process without first seeing the results of the modernization review.“

    CCNB first called for a restart of the project review in August, when conflict of interest allegations forced suspension of public hearings and the eventual recusal of the former EE review panel members.

    Unresolved issues with respect to any review on the proposed pipeline include whether or not new panel members will hear from scientists, First Nations and environmental groups and fishermen from New Brunswick; whether they will extend the impact zone under review to include the whole Bay of Fundy and whether they will require a complete analysis of both the business case for the pipeline and the impact of eventual spills from it on the natural environment, said Abbott.

    -30-

    To arrange an interview contact Matt Abbott at (506) 321-0429

    For more information on how the proposed Energy East pipeline would affect the Bay of Fundy, read the National Resource Defense Council’s report on tanker traffic in the Bay of Fundy: Sensitive Marine Ecosystems Threatened by Energy East’s ‘Aquatic Pipeline’.

    For a full list of New Brunswick waterways at risk from Energy East, check out our interactive map.

    For more information on the risks of Energy East to the communities of the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine, read the Conservation Council’s report: Tanker Traffic and Tar Balls: What TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline Means for the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine.
  • Fredericton Mayor and City Council demonstrate lack of transparency on Energy East pipeline

    FREDERICTON – A citizens’ group in Fredericton is asking why Mayor Brad Woodside and City Council sent a Letter of Support for the proposed TransCanada Energy East Pipeline Project to the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and kept it secret from the citizens of Fredericton.

    Fredericton’s drinking water would be at risk from an Energy East pipeline spill as identified in the Drinking Water Report released on April 6th. A detailed analysis of the proposed Energy East pipeline route shows that across Canada the project could lead to the contamination of crucial sources of drinking water not identified in TransCanada’s application.

    “Our City Councillors have a duty of care to ask about the risks and impacts of this export tar sands pipeline proposed to cross over or beside our rivers, bays, and drinking water supplies,” says Garry Guild, a member from the Fredericton chapter of the Council of Canadians.

    “We are disappointed to learn that our City Council approved and sent this Letter of Support for this very controversial issue in the absence of an open and transparent debate during a regular Council meeting in which Frederictonians are allowed to attend,” says Caroline Lubbe-D’Arcy, a member of the Fredericton chapter of the Council of Canadians. “This is more than just about a pipeline. It’s about public trust and the integrity of our elected officers. Decisions affecting the public being made secretly behind closed doors have no place in 2016.”

    The decision also contradicts the position of the Wolastoq Grand Council which recently announced on February 8th their opposition to the Energy East pipeline. The pipeline would traverse their unceded traditional homeland through the Saint John River watershed, including the headwaters of the Nashwaak River which is north of Fredericton.

    To date, the following one-sentence statement is the only response that members of the local chapter have received from the City Clerk’s Office of the City of Fredericton:

    “The City of Fredericton was approached by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce for a letter of support in relation to Trans Canada’s Energy East Project; and a letter was sent by Mayor Woodside, on behalf of City Council, to the Prime Minister of Canada confirming support.” (City Clerk’s Office, e-mail received April 05, 2016)

    “With impending municipal elections (Monday, May 9th), the citizens of Fredericton need to vote for a Mayor and Councillors who are both accountable and transparent. This is how they gain our trust”, says Joan Green, a member of the Fredericton chapter of the Council of Canadians.The Fredericton chapter of the Council of Canadians has launched a ‘Publicly Take Back The Letter’ campaign asking Fredericton City Council to publicly withdraw the letter before or at their Monday, April 25th meeting @ 7:30pm, the final Regular Meeting of City Council prior to the May 9th municipal election.
  • March to the 'End of the Line' in Red Head



  • Online Petition: Give Energy East a People's Intervention

    ‪Online Petition: Give Energy East a People's Intervention‬ - Follow the link and share it widely
    http://act.350.org/letter/energy_east/

    Stephen Harper and Big Oil have gutted Canada’s environmental review process -- cutting people's voices and climate change out of the National Energy Board review of the largest tar sands pipeline ever proposed.

    Harper and Big Oil know they can only build this pipeline if they ignore the facts and ignore the people. It's time for a People's Intervention... Read more
  • Residents Refused Entry Again

    October 15, 2015



    PRESS RELEASE



    TransCanada blocking local residents from attending their Energy East Pipeline Community Liaison Committee meeting



    SAINT JOHN – This week, nine local residents and landowners requested to sit in as observers at TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline Community Liaison Committee meeting held at the Hampton Inn, Saint John, on Wednesday, October 14.  Blocking their entrance, a security guard informed them that only members of the Committee were permitted at the meeting.



    Residents then asked to speak with a TransCanada representative. A short discussion took place with Pamela McKay, Trans Canada’s community consultant, which was videotaped. Ms. McKay informed the residents that TransCanada did not have a policy to allow observers at their Energy East community liaison meetings and that the residents would not be permitted to enter the meeting room.



    https://youtu.be/a4hdSWxq1Pw

    TransCanada blocking local residents from Community Liaison Committee in Saint John, Oct 14, 2015 (12:26)



    “Unlike other local industrial committees, TransCanada denies entry to local citizens,“ said Saint John resident David Thompson who was part of the group kept out of the meeting.  Mr Thompson has a long history of participating in industrial liaison meetings, and presently sits on two other industrial community liaison committees in Saint John.  “We simply wanted to sit quietly and listen to tonight’s committee meeting.”



    “Open, transparent, and democratic public participation should be the operating principles of each and every community liaison committee,” added Thompson. “The National Energy Board should be required to practice this.”



     “It’s a straw horse; it’s dishonest that TransCanada will go to National Energy Board and use this Community Liaison Committee as fulfilling part of their community outreach and consultation,” remarked Colin Seeley after being refused entry.  “As a person with a proposed pipeline running across my property, I have not been contacted since it was announced that the project was being delayed for 2 years.  Meanwhile, TransCanada has been pushing ahead with work on the project such as the recent borehole testing in Red Head.”



    Leslie Hillman, Red Head resident and member of Red Head Anthony’s Cove Preservation Association (RHACPA), was also disappointed to be refused entry, “TransCanada should respect the interests, the health, and the well-being of the residents and make the meeting open to the citizen observers.”



    Teresa Debly, a Red Head resident whose family property has already been impacted by industrial development in the area, says, “Several residents who have considerable experience with other industrial community committees, including myself, have repeatedly requested to be accepted as Committee members, but have been denied each time by TransCanada.  Back in February, I was utterly shocked when TransCanada hired a retired police officer to prevent landowners from attending these meetings.  We are calling upon TransCanada to immediately open up their Community Liaison Committee meeting.”



    A copy of this News Release and the web link to the video is also being sent to the National Energy Board. 



    Media contacts: David Thompson, Saint John, 506-635-1297 and Leanne Sutton, Red Head Anthony’s Cove Preservation Association, 506-654-7857
  • Statement on critical changes to pipeline/energy project assessment

    Conservation Council Logo
    Jan. 27, 2016

    Statement on critical changes to pipeline/energy project assessment

    FREDERICTON — Lois Corbett, Executive Director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, issued this statement following the announcement today from Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna:

    “We want to congratulate Ministers Carr and McKenna for using both common sense and a comprehensive understanding of the urgency we need to tackle carbon pollution by requiring major oil production projects, like TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline, to undergo a science-based assessment, including First Nations' traditional knowledge, as well as direct and upstream greenhouse gas pollution linked to the project.   

    It was naive and foolhardy not to include greenhouse gas analysis in oil pipeline projects but in its sheer stubborn determination to rush tarsands oil to export markets and damn the climate consequences, the former government did exactly that. One take-away lesson for decision makers everywhere today is that short cuts in environmental assessments are usually anything but.

    We also welcome the Ministers' intention to ensure the public’s right to participate in project reviews. That means the input of people from Edmundston, to the Tobique, all along the St. John River through to communities along our Bay of Fundy must be respected, instead of ignored. We look forward to working with this government in the near future to ensure that the climate analysis and other new requirements are robust.”
    -30-

    For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:

    Jon MacNeill, Communications: 458-8747 | 261-1353 | jon.macneill@conservationcouncil.ca
  • Throwing darts at map won't cut it: CCNB says TransCanada has moral duty to withdraw pipeline application


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    Throwing darts at map won't cut it: CCNB says TransCanada has moral duty to withdraw pipeline application

                                                                MEDIA RELEASE

    FREDERICTON — TransCanada Corporation has a moral responsibility to withdraw its Energy East project from the national review process now that significant changes have been made to the original oil pipeline proposal, says the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

    On Thursday, April 2, TransCanada announced it had cancelled plans to build an export terminal in Cacouna, Que., due to the negative effects it would have on a nearby nursing ground for the endangered Beluga whale.

    The company said it is still looking at other potential terminal sites in Quebec and noted it would file any amendments to its application to the National Energy Board between October and December of this year.

    The application process for the public to participate in the review of Energy East closed on March 17. Once it has received all necessary documents from the company, the National Energy Board will have 15 months to make a decision on the project.

    The Conservation Council says TransCanada has a moral duty toward Canadians to act responsibly by withdrawing its project application because:
     

    • Too many details are still up in the air for the National Energy Board to make a responsible decision in its review — throwing a dart at a map of Canada’s export terminals won’t cut it;
       

    • The company has demonstrated poor business planning for a project of this scale, failing to file its original application in both official languages, and significantly changing the scope of the project after the regulatory review process has already begun;
       

    • It is unfair to proceed with the project given how little is known about what this change will mean for the Bay of Fundy, including the impact on fishers and tourism operators whose livelihood depends on the pristine condition of the bay, and the impact on the many animals that frequent the bay, including the North Atlantic Right whale, one of the top 10 most endangered whales on the planet.

    “There are too many unknowns around this project, especially when it comes to the Bay of Fundy,” said Matt Abbott, Fundy Baykeeper with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

    “There are a lot of dedicated people in fisheries, NGOs and government working to protect and improve the coastal waters that are at the base of our economy and culture here in New Brunswick. It just wouldn’t be responsible or fair of TransCanada to string our coastal communities and industries along with an incomplete, ill-thought-out plan."

  • Will residents of Fredericton get to ask TransCanada about the risk of an Energy East pipeline spill to their drinking water?

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                 PRESS RELEASE                          12 MARCH 2015

    Will residents of Fredericton get to ask TransCanada about the risk of an Energy East pipeline spill to their drinking water?

    FREDERICTON - TransCanada refuses to hold a public meeting for the residents of Fredericton, yet the company is scheduled to meet Fredericton's business community for the second time in one year.

    Kevin Maloney of TransCanada Pipeline, plans to give an early morning presentation to the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce on March 17, 2015 at the Fredericton Convention Centre, from 8:00am to 9:00am.  As TransCanada's Manager for New Build Pipeline – Ontario & New Brunswick,  Mr. Maloney wants to update the business community on the progress of the Energy East Pipeline proposal.

    This announcement comes only 2 weeks after the public learned that TransCanada sent a letter to the City of Fredericton refusing City Council's request to hold a public meeting for their citizens.   Dated February 11, 2015, Patrick Lacroix, TransCanada's NB Project Manager for Energy East Project, explained his company's position in the letter, "Our focus remains on communities and landowners directly affected by the pipeline route.", intimating that Fredericton would not be directly affected by the pipeline.

    The letter by TransCanada did not mention that the company is holding meetings with the business community in Fredericton.  TransCanada's Philippe Cannon gave a presentation on the public safety and economic impacts of the proposed pipeline to the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, Fredericton North Rotary Club and Mayor Brad Woodside on March 17, 2014.

    This contradiction prompted several members of the Council of Canadians - Fredericton Chapter to call the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce and ask for an open meeting.  One of those members, Marzipan Trahms, explained, "It is unfair that TransCanada will meet with the business community of Fredericton but not the citizens of Fredericton. The optics are bad for building trust.  I expressed my concern with Chamber President Joseph O'Donnell and he assured me that the public is welcome at this breakfast presentation."

    Maggie Connell, co-chair of the Council of Canadians - Fredericton Chapter is very pleased with this turn of events, "The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce is to be congratulated for opening up this meeting to the public.  We look forward to TransCanada dealing with our concern about the risk to our city's drinking water supply in an open and genuine manner."

    "Our question to TransCanada will be very straight-forward: Where will a spill in the Nashwaak River end up?" says Ms. Connell. "Will computer modelling be conducted to predict whether or not toxic chemicals from an oil spill would reach the base of the Nashwaak River, the critical location of windows into the Fredericton aquifer?"

    Don McDonald, a resident of Stanley, was so concerned about the impact of a pipeline spill into his long-time fishing waterways, the Nashwaak River and the Southwest Miramichi River, that he applied a week ago to the National Energy Board to be an intervenor in the Energy East hearings. "The S Br SW Miramichi River, Taxis River, its tributaries, and Lake Brook flow into the SouthWest Miramichi River.  McGivney Brook and Arnold Brook flow into the Cross Creek stream which flows into the Nashwaak River and on into the Saint John River."

    Mr. McDonald stressed the high risk to Fredericton, "The proposed pipeline route crosses three tributaries leading into the Nashwaak River.  The usually high flow rate of Cross Creek and the Nashwaak River means that a spill could happen in the middle of the night and only be detected in the morning when it has already reached Fredericton."

    Don plans to attend the TransCanada presentation and ask the following, "How much can the pipeline spill before they know it, and how accurately can they identify where the leak is?  These are the two prime questions about leaks.  For example, we need to know what type of sensing equipment they will use and what will be the requirements for shut-off values at these water crossings?  Can they be shut off automatically." 

    Elizabeth Hamilton, member of Council of Canadians - Fredericton Chapter sums up why their group is so concerned about this pipeline, "An independent study commissioned by a Quebec municipality found that Energy East leaks as large as 2.6 million litres per day could go undetected. And the diluted bitumen that TransCanada plans to pump through the pipeline is filled with cancer-causing chemicals and sinks to the bottom of waterways it enters."

    "We have actual spills that prove our concerns are real," says Ms. Hamilton.  "An estimated 3.8 million litres of diluted tar sands bitumen spilled into a 60-kilometre stretch of the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in July 2010, forcing hundreds of residents from their homes.  Even after 4 years of clean-up, at a cost of $1.3 billion dollars, there remains an estimated 600,000 litres of oil stuck to the bottom of the Kalamazoo River."

    Ms. Hamilton concludes, "Our concern is for a large pipeline spill in the Nashwaak River that would reach all the way to Fredericton. We have to think first and foremost about protecting our drinking water."

    MEDIA CONTACTS:

    Maggie Connell  506.459.8081

    Marzipan Trahms 506.454.6410




    LINK: Presentation Day - The Energy East Pipeline

    http://business.frederictonchamber.ca/events/details/presentation-day-the-energy-east-pipeline-come-get-the-latest-update-on-its-progress-163

  • Wolastoq Grand Council Addresses the Energy East Pipeline / Le Grand conseil Wolastoq aborde le project Oléoduc Énergie Est

    Wolastoq Grand Council Addresses the Energy East Pipeline
    Ottawa January 29, 2016

    The Wolastoq Grand Council represents the non-ceded homeland of the Wolastoqewiyik who occupy the homeland and waterways as follows: North - Wolastoq River (aka St.John River which flows from Maine to the Bay of Fundy), South - KenepekRiver (aka Kennebec), East - Supeq (aka Atlantic Ocean), and West – Wahsipekuk(aka St. Lawrence River).

    As members of the Wolastoq Grand Council we unanimously oppose the Energy East Pipeline Project in order to protect our non-ceded homeland and waterways, our traditional and cultural connection to our lands, waterways, and air. The Wolastoq Grand Council has serious concerns for the safety and protection of the animals, fish, birds, insects, plants and tree life that sustains our Wolastoq Nation.

    The Wolastoq Grand Council recognizes and values the statements made by the Federal Government on January 27, 2016 to consult with Indigenous Nations with respect to the project of our Ancestral Homeland. The Wolastoq Grand Council is willing to meet with the Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr and other senior personnel in critical discussions that are consistent with our Peace and Friendship Treaties in a Nation-to-Nation relationship. There is a legal duty of the Crown to address and support our concerns due to the inadequacy of the National Energy Board process.

    The Wolastoq Grand Council will expect from the appropriate Crown delegate and provincial representative, a written acceptance of our traditional philosophy, and our rejection of the Energy East tar sands pipeline as soon as possible.

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    Ottawa, le 29 janvier 2016

    Le Grand conseil de la communauté Wolastoq représente la patrie non cédée des Wolastoqewiyik. Ces derniers occupent les terres et les cours d’eau suivant : Nord – Wolastoq River (maintenant connu sous le nom de fleuve Saint-Jean et qui coule de l’état du Maine à la Baie de Fundy), Sud – Kenepek River (aussi connu sous le nom de la Kennebec), Est – Supeq (également appelé l’Océan Atlantique) et Ouest – Wahsipekuk (appelé également le fleuve Saint-Laurent).


    En tant que membres du Grand conseil Wolastoq, nous sommes unanimement contre le projet de l’Oléoduc Énergie Est afin de protéger notre patrie non cédée et nos cours d’eau, nos rapports traditionnels et culturels avec nos terres, nos cours d’eau et nos espaces aériens. Le Grand conseil Wolastoq entretient de vives inquiétudes à l’égard de la santé et la sécurité des animaux, des poissons, des oiseaux, des insectes, des plantes et de la vie des arbres qui soutiennent notre peuple Wolastoq. 


    Le Grand conseil Wolastoq reconnait et valorise les déclarations faites par le gouvernement fédéral le 27 janvier 2016. Ce dernier avait dit qu’il consultera les peuples autochtones par rapport au projet de notre territoire ancestral. Le Grand conseil Wolastoq est disposé à rencontrer le ministre des Ressources naturelles, Jim Carr, et d’autres fonctionnaires de rang supérieur, pour entamer des discussions critiques qui sont conformes à nos traités de paix et d’amitié dans une relation de nation à nation. La Couronne a une obligation légale d’adresser et de soutenir nos préoccupations en raison de l’inefficacité du processus de l’Office national de l’énergie.

    Le Grand conseil Wolastoq attend du délégué approprié de la Couronne une confirmation écrite de notre philosophie traditionnelle et de notre rejet du projet de l’Oléoduc Énergie Est, de la pipeline et de ses sables bitumineux, et ce, le plus rapidement possible.

    Ron Tremblay,
    Wolastoq Grand Chief / Grand chef de la nation Wolastoq
 © 2018 NBEN / RENB