The Bruce Report

At the Wednesday morning press conference, Energy Minister Bruce Fitch appeared both pragmatic and businesslike. According to his freshly minted Renewable Portfolio Standard, fully a third of the province’s energy needs will be met by ecologically friendly sources, including wind, biomass, small and non-polluting hydro, tidal, and solar by 2016. The new deal promises to increase the contribution of green alternatives by 10 per cent over the next decade. “As you look into the future,” Fitch said, “if the price of crude oil continues to go up, the price of green energy will be very competitive.”

All of which had even the most devoted critics of Premier Lord’s record on the environment positively swooning. “It really is an important step,” said David Coon, Policy Director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, in an interview with the Times &Transcript. “We are well on the road to getting serious reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.”

Still, a few demurred. Opposition Energy Critic Roly MacIntyre stated that while the government appears to be moving in the right direction, “they seem to be going at the speed of a turtle, and a turtle that is not going very well.” (Whatever that means).

But let’s give the turtle his due. This move may have been a long time in coming, but at least it has arrived. The business case for diversifying the energy grid by developing and employing green alternatives is indisputable, and, pressured by local economic conditions and the vagaries of the international marketplace, the provincial government has simply (and finally) faced reality.

Consider the facts. If the world is not yet running out of oil, it is certainly running out of cheap oil. Moreover, our nation’s Kyoto commitments to reduce fossil fuel emissions are not mere social conventions or political overtures, but real economic obligations with all of the requisite rewards and punishments attached. Finally, much of the developed world has already folded clean, renewable energy sources into their industrial power grids, while Canada – despite having the technology to do so – has not.

Wind, for example, has become the fastest-growing energy source for countries across the planet. Denmark now sources more than 20 per cent of its entire electricity pool from the steady North Sea breeze. The proportion is as high as 50 per cent in some regions of Germany, where more than 20,000 wind turbines provide enough energy to meet the domestic needs of eight million Europeans.

In contrast, more than 60 per cent of Canada’s stationary energy is generated by large, polluting hydroelectric facilities; another 18 per cent by coal-fired plants; 13 per cent by nuclear reactors; and four per cent by natural gas furnaces.

Now, according to some estimates, the new standard in New Brunswick could generate between 375 and 450 megawatts of green energy a year. That’s the equivalent of all the power produced by the Belledune coal-fired facility in any given 12-month period. And for all the bottom-line watchers out there, the move promises as much as $1 billion in private sector investment – and return on investment – over the next decade.

What’s not to like?

The crucial question, of course, is whether the provincial government has the courage of its newfound convictions to continue down the path it has chosen. Developing alternative energy sources to commercially reliable and sustainable standards will require money, and lots of it. The $1 billion fly in the ointment is Point Lepreau, and its NB Power masters who persist in thinking that the utility they operate on behalf of the public is, in fact, their own private fiefdom.

Regardless, the Lord government has made the right decision for the right reasons about energy alternatives in New Brunswick. For that, and not just for its impeccable timing, it should be congratulated.

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