The article originally appeared in the July 20 edition of the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal.
Dear Editor:
I write to correct some errors in the article about New Brunswick’s record on reducing carbon pollution.
The National Energy Board (NEB) gets mixed up when describing steps Maritime governments have taken to reduce pollution from regional coal plants. Nova Scotia has a law in place that caps pollution from coal. N.B. has no law — the very old Dalhousie coal plant was closed because it was not economically viable, and well, the conversion of the other mega polluter ran into deep trouble some of your readers may remember as the “Orimulsion fiasco.”
Secondly, the NEB in error pegs the provincial target in N.B. at 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Atlantic Premiers and New England Governors do not use the 2005 baseline (initially brought in under the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper) from which to calculate progress on pollution reduction. These states and provinces all use 1990 as their beginning year, and the new climate plan from our provincial government released last December sets its target at 35 per cent below those levels by 2030.
It’s rash to position N.B. as ‘ahead of the game’ on climate change. With our coastal towns and villages in trouble with rising sea levels, our communities at risk from increasingly harsh storms — both ice and rain — and an overwhelming majority of our homes being heated by coal-fired electricity, N.B. has some work to do.
Leaders would be well advised to shelve the NEB’s four-page report and use a more accurate account. The provincial auditor general provides sound advice — legislate pollution reduction targets, lay out a schedule for building retrofits, and plan now to protect the health of our coasts. There are new jobs to be created in protecting the health and livelihoods of people in N.B. — sitting on our hands saying the world is fine and coal is here to stay is not the solution.
Lois Corbett
Executive Director
Conservation Council of New Brunswick
458-8747