NB government ‘cannot cancel’ PROENERGY contract, Holt says in response to AWI letter

New Brunswick’s premier says her government “cannot cancel” the contract between NB Power and the U.S. company PROENERGY as suggested in a strongly worded letter from Barry Rothfuss, executive director of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute.

“The project is currently undergoing an Environment Impact Assessment and PROENERGY is actively collecting additional information and data to inform their application before it is fully considered by the Government of New Brunswick,” Holt writes in a December 15th letter addressed to Rothfuss and his partner Pam Novak.

“NB Power has informed us that they are committed to working with PROENERGY to support the communities near the proposed site and address any concerns being raised,” she adds.

The premier was responding to a letter from Rothfuss sent more than three months earlier on September 2 urging her to stop the project.

“It is simply unwanted, detrimental to the Isthmus and health of those of us that live here, and it should not be forced on our community,” he wrote.

‘Repair relationships’

The Rothfuss letter accuses Holt of falsely claiming, during a CBC Radio appearance in August, that the project would be co-owned by First Nations in New Brunswick.

“It is now public record that this statement was not true. Instead, the actual status of this project is that it is a NB Power investment, via contract, in an American natural gas and diesel facility… centered in one of the most ecologically and culturally important corridors in our province,” his letter continues.

Holt responds by saying her government was provided with the same information the public received when the project was announced in July.

“We have since been made aware of the lack of official partnership agreement between PROENERGY and its Indigenous partners,” she writes, adding, “NB Power and PROENERGY are actively working to rectify the situation and repair relationships with the Indigenous community.”

‘Greenwash’

“NB Power and PROENERGY’s efforts to try and label this project as ‘renewable’ to make it sound ‘green’ rings hollow,” Rothfuss writes. “Instead, it replicates a classic strategy to ‘Greenwash’ while manipulating our Indigenous community in the process.”

Holt responds by pointing to the need for more “clean energy,” but writes that the “variable nature” of wind and solar requires ” firm baseload power” to fill the gaps.

“Until utility-scale battery, small modular reactors and sustainable supplies of renewable natural gas become affordable options for baseload power generation, natural gas is the least emissions intensive fossil fuel option available during the energy transition,” she writes, adding that “overall emissions” from other fossil fuel generating stations such as Coleson Cove are anticipated to decrease as the gas plant replaces them.

Holt writes that NB Power has identified a potential shortfall “in generation capacity forecast for 2028 due to accelerating electricity demand in the province…It is essential NB Power take the necessary steps now to secure additional capacity to ensure New Brunswickers have the power they need, when they need it.”

She ends her letter by reminding Rothfuss again that the “gas plant has not been approved” as it is undergoing a “provincial determination review” that “will lead to a decision from the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.”

To read Holt’s letter, click here.

To read the Rothfuss letter, 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 December 29, 2025.