LNG

Open Letter on the Centre Village Gas Plant project to Minister of Environment and Climate Change

On Nov 20th, Co-founders of Atlantic Wildlife Institute in Cookville, NB, along with founding members of the Stop The Tantramar Gas Plant group, accompanied by Tantramar MLA, Megan Mitton, traveled to Fredericton to meet with NB Minister of Environment and Climate Change Gilles LePage and his Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) team. They discussed our immediate concerns regarding the Centre Village (Tantramar) 500MW fossil fuel plant planned in the Chignecto Isthmus. Below is the follow up letter to Minister LePage, highlighting once again their concerns for this project. They’re demanding if not at least a full and comprehensive environmental assessment be done, but to fully cancel this project. Please read why this area – the Chignecto Isthmus – is of vital importance and must be saved from industrial development of this scale. The environmental and health effects will be irreversible.

Read More…

Opinion: Climate crisis demands no more fossil fuel projects … period

Tantramar gas plant proposal contradicts the imperative of reducing emissions and slowing temperature rise

by Jim Emberger • Telegraph-Journal, Nov 27, 2025

NB Power asserts the proposed Tantramar gas/diesel generator is the only solution to a coming electricity crisis. The utility, the project’s proponent, and various government agencies seem determined to limit the scrutiny of that assertion. It won’t be until the Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) holds hearings in February that we may see NB Power’s evidence showing whether the crisis is real or contrived, and whether it has only one solution – fossil fuel generators.

Read More…

Proposed Chignecto Gas Plant: Fact Sheets & Events

As we wait for November to see what projects the federal government is going to promote, and as politicians continue to peddle a gas pipeline and an LNG terminal for the province, the opposition to the proposed Centre Village gas/diesel fueled electricity generator continues to grow beyond the Chignecto Isthmus.

There are good reasons why New Brunswickers from across the entire province should reject this project.

Read More…

Chignecto at a Crossroads: Conscience or Catastrophe?

by Deborah Carr, 
I want to share the letter I submitted on Aug 15, 2025 to federal and provincial governments on NB Power’s gas plant proposed for Centre-Village, NB on the Chignecto Isthmus. In this time of wildfires and heat, drought and dangerous air quality, political strife and polarization, wars and genocides, it’s easy to overlook projects that do not seem to affect us directly. We’re all carrying a lot of weight these days.
But, as I point out in my letter, we are all connected and our actions have long-lasting impacts. People can enjoy watching the miracle of the shorebirds at Dorchester and Mary’s Point now because protective measures were taken long ago to secure a critical stop along the route of travel for millions of these species. They are a perfect example of how local actions matter on a global scale.

Read More…

Nation-building projects must recognize, address climate change

Every measure of climate showcases our failures

Jim Emberger  •  Telegraph Journal, Jul 08, 2035

On Earth Day, “Seniors for Climate” rallied at the legislature to remind governments that solutions to recent economic turmoil must reflect climate science.

Unexpectedly, Premier Susan Holt visited the rally and delivered an enthusiastic address in support of the rally’s message. Days later, she contradicted her uplifting remarks by promoting gas and bitumen pipelines, and LNG exports as Canadian nation-building solutions. That she didn’t recognize her contradictions places her in a new constituency that accepts industry propaganda that climate change can be solved, while burning more fossil fuels.

It’s an alluring belief, as it offers politicians an easy way to address our economic circumstances using resources we possess. But as the saying goes, “if it sounds too good to be true…”

Read More…

Fracked Farmland: “It’s a slow kill”

By Deborah Carr

The public seems largely unaware that the Blaine Higgs Progressive Conservatives (PC) want to restart fracking in New Brunswick. The PCs think we should help Europe transition from coal by selling them our ‘clean natural gas’. And most people do not realize that the Frederick Brook Shale Formation, one of the most highly desired gas-bearing regions, runs through south-eastern part of the province  from Memramcook and Hillsborough to Elgin and Sussex. Just a few kilometres from Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe.

Read More…

Science does not support lifting fracking moratorium

Protections put in place should be relaxed only if further findings emerge providing evidence no harm will result

By Jim Emberger – Special to Brunswick News – Published Oct 5, 2024

A recent Narrative Research poll, commissioned by Brunswick News, on lifting the fracking moratorium noted that the second largest group of poll respondents (19 per cent) replied “I don’t know” to the questions.

That likely illustrates that the success of the moratorium. For ten years it has, ironically, removed the shale gas issue from civic and media discussion.

Read More…

It’s time: make the fracking moratorium permanent

Commentary by Jim Emberger
Originally published on NB Media Co-op
September 30, 2024

This election marks the tenth anniversary of the 2014 election, when voters turfed the Progressive Conservative government of the day, primarily over the issue of fracking for shale gas. This followed years of New Brunswick’s largest protests, petitions with tens of thousands of signatures, province-wide educational tours, expert witness testimony, peaceful blockades, a citizen lawsuit, and, unfortunately, a violent police raid on peaceful Indigenous protesters.

The new government assembled a non-partisan citizen commission, which took public testimony, and reached conclusions leading the government to declare an indefinite moratorium on fracking.

Read More…

Premier’s pursuit of shale gas is perverse

[February 2, 2024, NB Media Co-op Commentary by Jim Emberger]

Premier Blaine Higgs’ continuing desire to exploit shale gas and LNG can only be described as “perverse,” which the dictionary defines as “showing a deliberate and obstinate desire to behave in a way that is unreasonable or unacceptable, often in spite of the consequences.” Higgs referenced LNG development during his State of the Province address on Jan. 25.

“We have so many advantages with our direct access to the U.S. and international markets along with our rich natural resources including wind, minerals, water, forestry, and natural gas,” he said. “That’s where I believe we have a tremendous opportunity to punch above our weight and really impact global emissions.”

His obstinate, decade-long pursuit of shale gas, can reasonably be called obsessive. It begins with his continuing promotion of gas even after citizens voted out the Alward government, which ran on the issue.

Read More…

47 groups call on New Brunswick government to turn page on fracking, focus on building healthier, affordable, sustainable electricity system

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[Le français suit]

May 8, 2023

Traditional territory of the Wabanaki Peoples/Fredericton — Yesterday, a solidarity statement was sent to every MLA in New Brunswick, calling for the government to immediately halt its drive to bring a shale gas industry to the province.

The statement, from the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, the Sierra Club Atlantic Region, and the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance (NBASGA), was accompanied by the endorsements of 44 organizations from across the province, nation and world.

Read More…