Opponents of NB Power gas/diesel plant applaud EUB ruling

Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton says she’s relieved that the province’s Energy and Utilities Board has ruled that it does have jurisdiction to review NB Power’s plan to build a 500 MW gas and diesel plant near Centre Village.

“I’m certainly relieved that there is another process NB Power has to go through and that the EUB will be reviewing it and ideally see what a terrible plan it is,” she adds.

“This isn’t a charity project and it’s going to be very expensive for New Brunswickers who are going to be on the hook for more than a billion dollars.”

Under the provincial electricity act, NB Power is required to apply to the EUB for review and approval of capital projects over $50 million.

But, during EUB hearings last month, NB Power lawyer John Furey said that the law doesn’t apply because the American company PROENERGY would be taking on the financial risks of building and operating the plant.

Therefore, he argued, the plant would be PROENERGY’s capital project, not NB Power’s.

Today, the EUB firmly rejected his argument, ruling that the proposed gas plant would be an NB Power capital project and therefore, the board has jurisdiction to satisfy itself that the project is financially prudent before approving it.

Moe Qureshi of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick says he’s pleased with the EUB ruling.

“I feel good about it because the project will be getting a review and there’s going to be more transparency and more discussion about the financial prudence of this project,” he said in a telephone interview.

“So for us, you know, this is a win for accountability. NB Power rates are going up again and we want to make sure that any project that’s being proposed, whether we agree with it or not, needs to be reviewed.”

At the same time he says, it’s too bad that the EUB will only be looking at finances and not the potential environmental effects of a fossil-fuel-burning generating plant on the Chignecto Isthmus.

He points out that, under new legislation, Nova Scotia’s Energy Board is required to consider environmental effects and climate change in its decisions.

Megan Mitton agrees that the EUB should be doing that too.

“We actually had experts come to hearings two years ago and some of them gave really great recommendations about legislative changes we could make including improving the mandate of the EUB,” she says.

Meantime, John Chilibeck, local journalism initiative reporter for Brunswick News writes that an NB Power spokeswoman said the utility respected the EUB decision.

“We are prepared to file evidence in support of this project,” Elizabeth Fraser wrote in an email to Brunswick News.

For CBC coverage, click here.

Bruce Wark worked in broadcasting and journalism education for more than 35 years. He was at CBC Radio for nearly 20 years as senior editor of network programs such as The World at Six and World Report. He currently writes for The New Wark Times, where a version of this story first appeared on October 16, 2025.