SAINT JOHN – A new report commissioned by the provincial government examines the economic impact five large-scale energy and mining opportunities could have in New Brunswick.
The report, Potential New Brunswick Energy Infrastructure and Natural Resources Investment Review, was written by David Campbell of Jupia Consultants. He looked into the potential of five well-known projects:
- Energy East Pipeline
- Canaport Energy East Marine terminal
- Shale gas development
- Canaport Liquid Natural Gas terminal
- Sisson Brook tungsten and molybdenum mine project
“This is the first time we are actually seeing what the jobs impact could be, what the GDP, the tax impact could be from all of these projects,” Campbell said during a press conference Tuesday.
Campbell spent the past six to eight months looking at each project and turning their potential into numbers.
He said an $8.6-billion investment from 2015-2020 into these five projects could mean:
- $1.43-billion average annual increase to the economy
- 3% yearly increase to the province’s GDP
- 5,200 full-time jobs added to the labour market
- $198-million to government revenue
- $273-million average annual increase to provincial consumer spending
READ MORE: Energy Infrastructure and Natural Resources Investment Report
But Campbell said these numbers don’t take into account any government spending on environmental or regulatory management.
“From my perspective, New Brunswickers need to look at all of these issues, they need to look at jobs for the people that are forced to leave the province to look for work, they need to look at economics, they need to look at other things and of course environment plays into that,” he said. “All industrial projects have environmental impacts, and every one of these five will.”
He says what New Brunswick needs to decide is if these environmental impacts are “manageable.”
Some are asking if the report has come a year too late.
On Monday, the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance filed an 18-page statement of claim with the Court of Queen’s Bench in Saint John, calling for a moratorium on the development of shale gas and oil in New Brunswick until scientific studies show it can be done safely.
“Let’s be clear, there’s a certain group of the population and I would dare say that the majority of people at the protests are part of that sector of the population, where this will be meaningless to them,” said Craig Leonard, Minister of Energy and Mines. “They won’t care about these numbers. They just don’t want development to take place. Period.”
Leonard said he’s hoping the “average New Brunswicker” will take a look at the report.
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