The New Brunswick government is looking to power the province’s future, but some residents say it’s heading in the wrong direction.
From gas plants and data centres to mining and fracking, protesters rallied outside the Legislature on Tuesday to warn that decisions made now could impact generations to come.
“Government’s proposed Sisson mine, Tantramar gas plant, Lorneville data centre, and worst of all re-opening fracking, will worsen the problem by adding more sickness to an already overburdened system,” said Dr. Chris Arsenault, co-chair of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.
Advocates were rallying as Lt.-Gov. Louise Imbeault read the throne speech to open the latest session of the Legislature.
That speech highlighted health care, affordability and growing the economy as priority areas for the coming year.
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But people in the rally said they are concerned that pollution, health risks, and higher power bills will result from some of government’s decision. They’re calling for a greater focus on renewable energy instead.
“This is the up-and-coming technology. Not the technologies of the past that burn carbon, jeopardize our futures and enrich American billionaires,” said youth advocate Liam MacDougall.
Ashley Anthony, a member of the Save Lorneville group, points to freedom-of-information records that reveal three data centre proposals in the area.
One alone would draw 200 megawatts from NB power, even as the utility warns of future power shortages and says it needs the Tantramar gas plant.
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Beyond the environmental concerns, the group says it wants to know who will foot the bill.
“These AI data centres are coming way too quickly for the government to even understand and discern what’s happening,” she said.
“We need them to pause and be able to create science-backed policy that will help us have informed decisions that benefit our communities, instead of making places like Lorneville a sacrifice zone — which is exactly what they’re doing.”
In response, Premier Susan Holt said her government will only allow projects to go forward that meet stringent conditions.
“I need to see answers to the questions we laid out in the draft policy: can (the companies) do it without impact on water, can they do it without impact on energy rates, can they do it with a deposited benefit to the community,” Holt said.
“And if they cannot, then they haven’t met our threshold (that) a project would need to be able to have to go forward.”
Maybe we should put a hold on immigration and start investing in New Brunswickers instead? People here aren’t building families because they cannot afford to give them a good life.
Replacing local Canadians with newcomers is not a solution and is only worsening Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Shediac housing and energy costs crisis.
Without some of these projects like the Tantramar gas plant NB will face real energy supply problems in the very near future with or without data centers. When the lights go out it will be too late. Renewable alternatives would be preferred ,but the timeline and cost for a struggling province means they are not short term solutions.
My favourite memory of the fracking era was a statement by politician that lives in the Rothesay/Quispamsis area, who stated they entirely supported fracking…as long as it wasn’t in Rothesay or Quispamsis. In other words, they knew it ruins groundwater and creates one or two jobs that no locals would ever be selected for.
36 wells were drilled before the moratorium and have been running for years , how many jobs did that create? zero, only USA workers.
look it up, use chatgpt, google,grok its all the same,lies lies lies