About 80 people gathered in the basement of a church in Midgic, New Brunswick to oppose an proposed 500 megawatt gas plant near Center Dorf, and warned to urge moisture areas, drinking water and local wild animals to threaten alternatives for renewable energies.
The Terry Jones, whose meeting of the organizer Terry Jones, whose 178 hectares of family ownership is only 1.4 kilometers from the facility, which was proposed on the ecologically sensitive chignecto-isthmus, informed the participants that the largest influence of the gas system on local wetlands, water and well, reported the former CBC radio journal for NB Media co-op.
“And this water damage will become the groundwater ladders down there until the tantramar river.
“We have to slow down so that we have time,” said Jones.
“It is not the case that we are anti-level or anti-developments.
“It's just a sensitive area here.”
It is one of the few corridors with migratory birds, a moose project and much more, added.
“Many of them have been living in the country for a long time. They have generations of families and they know what it is like to live here,” said Bulmer as someone in the audience: “The water is so good here.”
“The water is so good here,” repeated Bulmer.
“We have the right to have clean water, clean air and enjoy our property,” said Jones, that there is potential for safe, environmentally friendly tourism in the region.
“But we try to build a concrete cushion up there and glue it at production stations.”
No “trust” in the province
MLA MEGAN Mitton (GPC-Tantramar) reported on the reaction of the Provincial Environment Minister on her letter, in which a comprehensive environmental impact assessment (RRP) is requested that would require extensive public consultations.
She said Gilles Lepage wrote down to say that he would only decide whether a comprehensive RRP should be ordered until the first reviews were completed, and he added: “It should be noted that comprehensive reviews are generally necessary for large -scale projects such as mines, refineries, nuclear power, etc.
“Well, I have no confidence in the provincial government,” said Mitton.
She offered to use her constituency office to coordinate email and telephone lists as an instrument for organizing and sharing information. She said she would also present petitions against the project in the legislature, but warned that the legislator would only hit in October and that it is easy for the government to ignore petitions.
Diesel danger
Barry Rothfuss, Managing Director of the Atlantic Wildlife Institute (AWI), which would be 4.5 kilometers from the generation plant, spoke about his expertise about the environmental impact of projects like this.
AWI is the only organization in Atlantic Canada that is certified with risks and threats to ecologically sensitive flora and fauna and propose opportunities to alleviate damage when it occurs.
“I was in many such facilities,” he said. “To access these facilities, you need special training.
He added that the large system with 10 generator diesel fuel would use as a backup for gas. This would require a diesel bearing capacity of three million gallons.
Rothfuss said that if there have been significant leaks, local organizations would not have the ability to deal with them.
“These types of facilities are notorious for leaks and things that go wrong and human failure,” he added.
In addition to AWI, the spokesman for the Canadian parks and the Wilderness Society and the EOS-Öko-Energie expressed their environmental concerns with regard to the proposed gas and diesel.
Renewable alternatives
The activist Leslie Chandler informed the meeting that there are alternatives to fossil fuels such as gas and diesel, including battery energy storage systems.
“The costs of these systems have dropped by 50% since 2022,” she said.
“And the construction of one of them is cheaper than a gas system,” she added, as she refers to a report by the alliance of Clean Energy States in Maine.
Chandler found that Proenergy, the American company with the construction and operation of the gas plant contract, paused open houses in hand and asked people to transfer a message to company representatives.
“Say our community doesn't have that and we will be renewable.”
“We just don't buy it, we don't have it, it doesn't happen here,” she added.
Bruce Wark has been working in the training of radio and journalism for more than 35 years. He was on CBC Radio for almost 20 years as the senior editor of network programs such as The World at Six and World Report. He is currently writing the New Wark Times, in which a version of this story only appeared on August 12, 2025.
The story was published on August 13, 2025 by NB Media Co-OP and released with permission.