Over 80 people, including 15 government and industry representatives, attended the first of two information sessions about a proposed new natural gas power generation plant in rural Tantramar on Monday evening. People shared concerns about wetland destruction and impacts to wildlife in the area. The project is located in Centre Village, in the middle of the Chignecto Isthmus wildlife corridor, which some researchers say is a vital land migration route for mainland moose, which are endangered in Nova Scotia.
Members of the public have until August 1 to submit written comments to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC), who hosted the meeting. Those comments, along with responses from the project proponent, PROENERGY Canada, will be used to decide whether or not a full federal environmental impact assessment will go forward for the ten-turbine gas plant off route 940, just north of Midgic.
IAAC project manager Shauna O’Brien said the purpose of the public comment period is “to obtain information and knowledge related to the potential effects of the project.” She also noted that for a project to move on to a comprehensive federal assessment, it must be found to have potential effects from a short list of specific areas of federal jurisdiction, including “fish and fish habitat, migratory birds, federal lands, impacts on Indigenous peoples, and trans-boundary changes involving the pollution of trans-boundary waters.”
Proponents of the project told those gathered that the new gas turbine plant would only fire up about 7% of the time to respond to peak demand needs or intermittency of renewable generation on the grid. The rest of the time, the turbines would run without fuel, to provide voltage support and stability for the grid.
The amount of time that the plant would burn natural gas would be determined by NB Power.
Members of the public asked dozens of questions on Monday evening, about topics including impacts on local wildlife, water usage and effluent, and the wisdom of investing in fossil fuel technology in the face of climate change.
PROENERGY Canada representatives said they planned to adjust their construction schedule around migratory birds, but did not address questions about the potential for gas flaring at the plant. They said water usage would average about 490 cubic metres per day, if the plant operated at its expected minimum capacity of 7%. And the effluent from the plant would consist of well water with higher concentrations of existing minerals, as a result of reverse osmosis filtration for water used in the generation process.
Regarding climate change, the IAAC’s O’Brien said those considerations would be left to a comprehensive review, if one were to occur. O’Brien also said air pollution issues could be considered by the province of New Brunswick, during its environmental assessment, which is happening simultaneously.
O’Brien encouraged members of the public to submit comments in writing, to make sure they are recorded in the process. As of Tuesday morning, ten comments have been recorded on the IAAC website for the project, called the Centre Village Renewables Integration and Grid Security Project.
‘Considerable amount of concern and scrutiny’
Tantramar Mayor Andrew Black says he has NOT heard from residents about the gas plant project, with the exception of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute, who have posted a letter online explaining their opposition to the project on the grounds of local environmental impacts.
Black says that despite the lack of direct communications to his office, he is aware of a “considerable amount of concern and scrutiny” for the project among members of the community, and he shares that feeling personally.
A second meeting hosted by the IAAC is happening Tuesday July 22 from 1:30 pm to 3:00 PM, over Zoom.
