5 août 2014 – Times & Transcript N.B.’s natural resource debate rages

Environmentalists, economists at odds over development as workers continue to venture west Chris Morris LegisLature Bureau

FREDERICTON • Donald Savoie sees the hub of ’s economic problems every time he drives by the old airport parking lot and sees it filled to capacity with the cars and trucks of people who have headed west for work.

There are 13 direct flights a week from Moncton to Fort McMurray, Alta., and the big jets that fly the route are carrying thousands of New Brunswickers to work in

Alberta’s booming energy industry.

Savoie, the savvy public policy expert who has become something of an éminence grise in New Brunswick, says the Sept. 22 election is critically important for the future direction of the province.

At the heart of the choice that voters make this time around is the issue of natural resource development and the extent to which people embrace, fear or dismiss the corporate exploitation of the province’s rich forests and lands.

But as far as Savoie is concerned, New Brunswickers do not have the luxury of a multitude of options when it comes to improving the economy and maintaining valued public services.

“It is not like we have an abundance of choices here,” Savoie said in an interview.

“People who want to walk away from natural resources have to tell us how they would grow the economy and empty the parking lot at the old Moncton airport. How do we create jobs to keep our folks home? I tell you, the only way we can do it is through the business community. We have to build from our strengths, and our strengths are natural resources.”

To underscore his concern about New Brunswick’s fragile economic state and its uncertain outlook, Savoie has this bit of advice for voters:

“I would advise New Brunswickers this time around to vote for the politician who promises the least because he will be the least disappointing,”he said.

Natural resource development has been a hot-button issue in the province for years, triggering debates, demonstrations and even violent protests over how and whether exploration and development should proceed, especially shale gas.

A recent report commissioned by the New Brunswick government and prepared by David Campbell of Moncton-based Jupia Consultants said that if large-scale energy and mining projects go ahead, from 2015 to 2020 there is potential for more than 30,000 full-time jobs to be created and $8.6 billion invested in energy and mining infrastructure.

Campbell looked at five large energy and mining projects that have the potential to be underway in the near future.

Of the projects, the Energy East pipeline, is projected to create the most jobs at an average of 1,867 per year over six years. The proposed pipeline would carry 1.1 million barrels of crude oil each day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to

Quebec and New Brunswick.

The second project, the Energy East Marine Terminal, would be built in conjunction with the pipeline with an initial investment of $400 million. On average, the terminal would generate 203 full-time jobs annually over six years.

Currently, the Canaport LNG Terminal is a receiving and regasification terminal for liquefied natural gas. Interest in converting the facility into a liquid natural gas gasification and export terminal could prompt an initial investment of $3 billion and lead to the creation of 1,500 jobs annually.

The proposed Sisson Brook Mine, which is located 60 kilometres northwest of , would produce tungsten and molybdenum – essential minerals used in steel production. It could generate $579 million as an initial investment and create 998 full-time jobs each year for the two years.

Finally, if the shale gas industry goes ahead, Campbell’s report said it would generate an initial investment of $2.2 billion over five years and the creation of

1,015 full-time jobs annually.

In addition to mining and energy projects, expanded industrial access to New Brunswick Crown forests, announced recently by the Tory government, is expected to result in about $600 million in private investment while securing job stability for thousands of people in the forestry industry.

But each of these projects and plans raises fundamental environmental concerns and questions about the kind of New Brunswick people want.

The five political parties vying for votes present different scenarios for resource development ranging from the full-speed-ahead approach of the Progressive Conservatives to the more cautious Liberals especially when it comes to shale gas to the renewable energy preferences of the Greens.

“I think the voter has moved beyond the old jobs-versus-the-environment argument and the belief that you can only have one or the other,” says Lois

Corbett, executive director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

“Folks have a much more sophisticated understanding of the issues these days. Jobs for whom, and at what risk? I think that is the question politicians may face on the hustings.”

The environmental movement in New Brunswick has gained muscle in recent years. It is vocal and widespread and it is preaching conversion from what its proponents see as the sunset industry of oil and gas to the sunrise potential of renewable energy development such as solar, wind and tidal.

Corbett said voters are becoming suspicious of governments quietly cutting backroom deals with industry for the disposition of public land.

“They are so fed up with the old way of politicians sitting down with fat-cat corporate lawyers in a back room somewhere and coming up with a deal on stuff that actually belongs to the people not to the government and then going out and trying to sell it to the people as opposed to asking the people their opinion first,”Corbett said. “I think they are fed up with the old way of doing things.” Corbett said people are heading into this election campaign with a fresh reminder of the potential effects of global warming: the widespread damage caused by post-tropical storm Arthur.

“I don’t think voters want to be pushed into a corner and told, ‘It’s the pipeline or the highway,’”she said.

“They’re saying, ‘Tell me what else you’ve got for me.’ Can we look at how to green our economy as opposed to these long-term commitments to companies from places like Texas and Alberta? What else can we do to grow our economy in a sustainable manner? That’s what people want to hear in this campaign.”

Patrick Brannan of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council said the reality is that the strongest and fastest-growing economies in Canada are the ones based on oil and gas development: Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and

Labrador.

“The royalties coming from those projects are really helping those provinces grow,”said Brannan, APEC’s director of major projects.

“I think the trend towards green energy will continue, but the reality is it is a very high-cost source in terms of energy generation so it still needs to be balanced with other types of energy development. You look around the world, and a lot of the largest projects out there are still in the oil and gas sphere, so it remains a huge source of investment and a huge source of potential.” Election 2014: The Issues

This week, Brunswick News is running a series of feature stories detailing the issues that will define the election campaign.

Monday: Jobs and the economy

Tuesday: Natural resources and the environment

Wednesday: The abortion access debate

Thursday: The state of the province’s education system

Friday: The future of provincial health care

Saturday: The provincial debt and deficit