A 19-day hearing begins today before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (UARB) that will decide how much more Nova Scotians will pay on their power bills. Nova Scotia Power is requesting an average increase of 11.6% over three years that is being driven by higher costs for fossil fuel and less hydroelectricity from […]
Does the Houston government’s proposed carbon plan make sense?
A Dalhousie energy expert says delaying an increase in the price of carbon today merely pushes off the inevitable.
A week ago the Houston government submitted to Ottawa an alternative proposal to the federal government’s plan to price carbon by means of a carbon tax. Larry Hughes is a professor in the electrical and computer engineering department at Dalhousie University as well as Dal’s School for Resource and Environmental Studies. He has read the […]
Nova Scotia Environment minister approved Signal Gold’s open pit mine at Goldboro despite concerns and criticisms from scientists in his own department
This decision also exposes weaknesses in the assessment process for metal mines in Nova Scotia and Canada
On August 2, Nova Scotia’s Environment and Climate Change minister Tim Halman approved the proposal by Toronto’s Signal Gold for an open pit gold mine in Goldboro, on the province’s Eastern Shore. Signal Gold, which until recently was called Anaconda Mining (an anaconda is a giant snake that strangles its prey), plans to operate the […]
Higher power bills on the way as delays continue at Muskrat Falls
Ongoing delays in the promised flow of hydroelectricity from Labrador’s Muskrat Falls will deliver Nova Scotians at least one thing with certainty: higher power bills. Here’s why: In June, the province received less than half the amount of contracted energy — known as the Nova Scotia Block — because of frustrating problems with General Electric […]
A quietly negotiated trade agreement with Indonesia is a bad deal for Canada
Through its subsidiary Paper Excellence, the giant Asia Pulp & Paper conglomerate already controls much of Canada's pulp industry. The company is now suing Nova Scotia for $450 million, and the new deal will expose Canadians to even more corporate litigation before judges who are not appointed by elected governments. It's the latest "bilateral trade agreement" that threatens labour and environmental protections.
Nova Scotians have a huge lawsuit hanging over their heads, but they can be forgiven for not dwelling on it in the summer of 2022, given the never-ending storm of crises swirling around them — COVID-19, the climate crisis, biodiversity collapse, runaway inflation and disaster capitalism run amok, and disintegrating democracy around the world. Still, […]
An Indonesian company is increasingly controlling Canada’s pulp industry, but regulators seem unwilling to act
Paper Excellence, already Canada’s largest pulp and paper producer, now plans to swallow Resolute Forest Products.
Today news broke that pulp and paper giant Paper Excellence is about to swallow up Canada’s Resolute Forest Products in a deal worth US$2.7 billion. “We are very alarmed by this development,” says Shane Moffatt, head of Greenpeace Canada’s Nature and Food Campaign. “It calls for much greater scrutiny of the ownership of Paper Excellence. […]
Dalhousie University’s decision to source “sustainable biomass” from J.D. Irving and Wagner a “piss-off”
News that Emera’s Brooklyn biomass plant is out of commission is making waves in Nova Scotia, while Dal’s biomass facility in Truro garners little publicity.
In May 2021, Dalhousie University issued a tender for “sustainable biomass” to feed the bioenergy plant on its agricultural campus in Truro. At the end of July 2021, the university quietly awarded the contract — worth $1,318,187.50 — to J.D. Irving and Wagner Forest NS. This marked a departure for Dalhousie’s biomass plant, which for […]
Proposed Wentworth Valley wind farm gets blowback
While local group fears negative effects, Northern Pulp stands to profit from the giant wind project because it’s on Northern Pulp land purchased with a loan from Nova Scotians.
Let’s start with a quick Nova Scotia quiz. Question #1: What do the following three things have in common? (1) A large new wind farm proposed for Wentworth Valley, (2) an open pit gold mine at Moose River in Halifax Regional Municipality that is owned by Australia’s St Barbara Ltd and operated by its subsidiary […]
Paper Excellence’s very big deal
Northern Pulp’s parent company is set to acquire the North American pulp and paper giant Domtar. While the acquisition is getting very little media attention in Canada, around the world many people are worried about it — for many good reasons.
It is a Very Big Deal. At 10am on Thursday, July 29, at a special virtual meeting, shareholders of Domtar, a giant in the North American pulp and paper industry, will vote on whether to accept the sale of all the corporation’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock to Paper Excellence for US$55.50 per […]
Pieridae’s pipe dream
Pieridae Energy’s plans for a liquified natural gas plant in Nova Scotia sit in the sweet spot of an elaborate Rube Goldberg financing machine that requires Shell Oil offloading some aging gas wells in Alberta to a cash-strapped energy company living on the hope of sky-high gas costs in Germany years from now.
If the Halifax Examiner inbox is anything to go by, there is no shortage of critics of Pieridae Energy and its plans to pipe natural gas into Nova Scotia, build a $10-billion liquefied natural gas plant in Goldboro on the province’s Eastern Shore, and then ship the LNG to Germany, a project the Halifax Examiner […]