The Topaz Generating Station near Houston, Texas, pictured here, is similar to the facility that has been approved for construction in Centre Village in New Brunswick’s Tantramar municipality. Photo courtesy ProEnergy.

On May 28, the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board approved construction of a new gas- and diesel-fired generating plant. It will be built in Centre Village, a small hamlet in the municipality of Tantramar in the southeast of the province. The move surprised no one, and that is both a shame and part of the problem. The decision illustrates a series of wider issues with New Brunswick energy policy, not least its isolation from even a measure of democratic control.

The new plant is part of the inaptly named Renewables Integration and Grid Security project (or RIGS). It will be developed, built, owned, and operated by ProEnergy, a US energy company headquartered in Sedalia, Missouri. According to NB Power, the provincial Crown corporation that plans, administers, generates, and oversees power in the province, RIGS aims “to meet New Brunswick’s growing electricity needs while keeping power reliable, affordable, and environmentally responsible.” This description disguises more than it reveals.

Opposition to the proposed plant was almost immediate. The first concern is its location. Centre Village sits on the Isthmus of Chignecto, which connects Nova Scotia to New Brunswick and the rest of Canada. The area is environmentally unique, home to the largest salt marshes in the country and their delicately balanced ecological systems. The isthmus itself is fragile. It is prone to flooding and has been a political hot potato as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick squabble with the federal government over the cost of protecting it from rising sea levels. In the view of local residents, contributing to the very problem that threatens this environment seems like a short-sighted initiative.

The problems with the Centre Village RIGS plant do not get much better after that. First, it is also opposed by Indigenous people. The North Shore Mi’kmaq Tribal Council, along with Elsipogtog, the largest Mi’kmaq community in the area, have made their concerns clear. What is interesting, however, is that Indigenous participation in the project was initially billed as........

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