New Brunswick to review fracking moratorium, prompting pushback from environmentalists

Premier Susan Holt, flanked by two Cabinet ministers, sent a shockwave through New Brunswick’s political landscape Wednesday as she announced a review of the province’s moratorium on shale gas development, with a decision expected in January.

Holt, along with Minister of Indigenous Affairs Keith Chiasson and Minister of Natural Resources John Herron, stressed that the review doesn’t amount to an endorsement or commitment to more fracking, but the news prompted an immediate pushback from environmental campaigners and at least one First Nation in New Brunswick.

The Conservation Council of New Brunswick released a statement opposing “any move by the provincial government to lift New Brunswick’s moratorium on hydraulic fracturing and reopen the province to natural gas development,” citing the climate crisis and renewing calls for the development of wind and solar energy.

“We know what burning fossil fuels is doing to our climate,” said Beverly Gingras, the group’s executive director, in the statement. “We can see the consequences around us. We can see where global energy markets are heading. Starting down the road of new natural gas development in 2026 is not forward-looking economic development. It is a step backwards.”

Elsipogtog First Nation — the community at the centre of a Mi’kmaq-led resistance movement against shale gas exploration that ultimately led to the 2014 moratorium — also released a statement cautioning the government that dialogue with First Nations “must not be represented as support, acceptance or consent.”

The province has indicated that “government-to-government dialogue with First Nations leadership will continue” and that a “First Nations Technical Working Group” is now in place, the four-page statement from Elsipogtog’s chief and council said.

“The existence of these processes, however, does not by itself demonstrate that meaningful consultation, accommodation or consent has occurred.”

The decision to re-open the shale gas file represents an abrupt change of policy for the Liberal premier.

Before she came to power in October 2024, Holt expressed opposition to fracking. As recently as 2023, she criticized then-premier Blaine Higgs for pursuing shale gas fracking, calling it “yesterday’s energy solution.”

The Liberal Party of New Brunswick also passed a non-binding resolution in February 2024 “that a future Liberal government adopt a permanent moratorium on the exploration and exploitation of shale gas in New Brunswick.”

However, Holt said on Wednesday times had changed, invoking the latest chapter in the American trade war.

“As trade with our closest neighbour is thrown into question yet again, now is the time to secure our autonomy and protect our sovereignty,” she said.

Full media conference: 

She also cited the need for revenue to fund the health care system and other services, and the need to meet a growing demand for energy in New Brunswick.

Activists have argued that a significant chunk of that demand could be eliminated by scrapping plans for a controversial hyperscale data centre near Saint John, which is expected to draw 390 megawatts at full capacity from the public grid and an on-site natural gas plant.

That issue didn’t come up during Wednesday’s media conference.

Nor was the word “climate” uttered during the nearly hour-long media conference. Government communications officials ended the event without allowing the NB Media Co-op to ask any questions.

Natural gas from fracking is primarily composed of methane, a major contributor to the deepening global climate crisis.

It’s among among many concerns for environmentalist Jim Emberger, spokesperson for the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance.

Emberger expressed shock “that anybody would think we needed a review to figure out what was going on in the world of shale gas.”

Emberger, who has been involved in the fight against fracking in New Brunswick since 2010 said that “essentially none of the areas of interest that the government is going to pursue have gotten better.”

For example, he said that a growing body of literature has identified health problems linked to fracking.

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment–New Brunswick has called for permanent ban on fracking, saying it presents “unacceptable health risks” in communities near shale gas developments, including birth defects.

Emberger also pointed to issues including water consumption and the disposal of waste water.

“Fracking uses way more water than it did back in 2010,” he said. “Now they’re finding out — there’s more research on this as well — a lot of assumptions we made about how safe it was to put waste water down injection wells is not true, that the stuff doesn’t stay there, it moves and it causes earthquakes,” he said. “It’s very dangerous.”

On the question of energy markets, he said the war in Iran — which has reduced fossil fuel supplies globally — will contribute to a long-term decline in natural gas consumption as people increasingly transition to renewables.

That raises questions about how much of a market will remain for fracked gas by the time the infrastructure is in place New Brunswick, if the moratorium is ended. That process of scaling up could take about 10 years, according to Emberger.

“In 10 years, if we’re still pumping as much natural gas as we’re doing now, the climate’s going to be in really bad shape,” he said.

David Gordon Koch is a staff reporter with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, via the Local Journalism Initiative.