The Conservation Council of New Brunswick responded to news of TransCanada’s decision to cancel its proposed Energy East diluted bitumen pipeline with both a sigh of relief for New Brunswick’s Bay of Fundy and coastal communities so dependent upon it, and hope that this decision will spur New Brunswick and Canada to aggressively go after the low-hanging fruit of construction jobs ready to be had through home energy-efficiency renovations and the renewable energy sector.
Our Executive Director Lois Corbett and Fundy Baykeeper Matt Abbott spoke with local, regional and national media outlets.
In a live, nationally-televised interview on CBC News Now, Corbett told host Suhana Meharchand:
“I’m very pleased and joined with folks clear across the country, I think with two initial reactions: a huge sigh of relief, first of all that common sense has played out at the end of the day, and secondly, a bit of hope that with the scrutiny that this project faced, and the opposition to it from folks who are concerned about First Nations rights, impacts on the Bay of Fundy fisheries, and the risk to the environment, that we can perhaps turn the page and put our shoulders into developing economies in the new modern era of green energy, sustainable solutions, instead of the old model of fossil fuel burning.”
When asked about the temporary construction jobs the pipeline would have created, Corbett responded:
“Do you know that the same type of folks that would have been out with their hard hats and work boots on, like pipefitters, construction workers, they could be put to work tomorrow in jobs in renovation, retrofitting and insulating attics and basements, and we don’t need National Energy Board approval for that type of job creation.”
When asked how confident she was that jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency will come in strong numbers, Corbett said:
“When I see the Governor of Massachusetts saying that his state is going to depend entirely on green and renewable electricity systems in a matter of 15 years, I’m pretty confident. That’s not the vice president of the Sierra Club from Washington saying that, that is a governor on our seaboard saying that tomorrow’s jobs are going to be based on clean, renewable sources. When I see the president of Ford saying, ‘we’re going to have an electric fleet in 15 years,’ I’m going, holy moly, we’re all on the same page now.”
Corbett made similar comments to CTV Atlantic, Global New Brunswick, CBC New Brunswick. Watch those clips here:
Listen to Corbett’s interview with CBC Information Morning Moncton host Jonna Brewer on Friday, Oct. 6, here:
Corbett told CBC New Brunswick (full story here):
“I wonder if we can turn the page and now spend our time … and develop the plan to build the renewable energy efficiency economy that we need — as opposed to fighting over this pipeline project or that pipeline project.”
Here’s what our Fundy Baykeeper, Matt Abbott, told the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal in the wake of the news:
“It’s an important day. When I think of long-term sustainable jobs in our coastal communities, for owner-operated fisheries, today is important; when I think of jobs in the eco-tourism industry, today is important, and when I look at long-term impact on whales and other species in the Bay of Fundy, many of which are already under severe stress, it’s important that they don’t have the additional stress of a project like Energy East.”
Abbott also spoke with Radio-Canada. Watch the clip here (7:50 – 8:10).
Abbott made similar comments in an interview with Acadie Nouvelle. Read the full story here.
The Conservation Council’s 2015 report, Tanker Traffic and Tar Balls: What TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline Means for the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine, was included in a Times Colonist article entitled “Controversial events in the history of TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline.”