EAs for the Proposed Marshdale & Saltspring Gas plants

Good morning;

I find it difficult to have to address this issue of the proposed Marshdale and Saltsprings Gas plants.  Nova Scotians have so roundly objected to fracking for Natural Gas to the point of banning it in our province. Without consideration this current government has made a complete reversal and has gone so far as to fund Dalhousie University to the tune of $30 million to promote industrial development of this industry in our province. These government directions are reckless and regressive, undermining the wishes of the people of NS to truly decarbonize but demonstrating quite clearly that it is the fossil fuel/oil interests that are all that really matter to this government.

The Environmental Assessments for two proposed 300MW gas plants lack independent unbiased scrutiny and have failed completely to fulfill the requirement to examine project alternatives. The report that renewables are not up for the task lacked the scrutiny needed and simply fell back on the interests of the fossil fuel industry's desire to build at enormous expense, (roughly $1 Billion ea), infrastructure that could be done at a fraction of the costs by utilizing battery storage through renewable sources.

And It's not just the capital cost of these gas plants to consider, but also the long-term fuel and operating and maintenance costs, over 40 years, which have also not properly been examined by the EAs. So again by not examining the possible alternatives the EAs conclusion are a reckless disservice to the people of NS.

Just how independent is the Nova Scotia Independent Energy System Operator, whose transparent bias to favour the interest of the fossil fuel industries is there for all to see. Due diligence was not done. These EAs do not provide any real project alternatives section in their report, citing renewables as insufficient.

NS is ideally located for a wide range of alternative energy sources. (BioMass is not a green alternative energy source). The huge cost to build and operate the Marshdale and Saltspring Gas Plants are neither wanted or necessary.   

A 300 MW of battery storage is going to cost around $300-400 million compared with the price tag which is upward to $2 Billion. Quite economical compared to each 300 MW gas fired power plant costing $1 billion just to construct plus the additional costs of the gas, and ongoing operating and maintenance of these gas plants.

It would therefore be more cost effective and responsible to build grid scale batteries that are long lasting, and are almost always charged up at the lowest cost price from renewables. These battery storage units are already being distributed around the province to reduce transmission losses and these batteries can be charged up in off-peak times.

By doubling the battery storage capacity to 600 MW of battery storage the cost would roughly be $1 billion dollars, half of the proposed 2 gas plants and may be sufficient, based on wind and solar science, to cover any power needs. The failure to examine what sizing is actually needed in NS, in lieu of embracing the build of these gas plants, is an inexcusable failure of these EAs.

Nova Scotia electricity consumers are already being saddled with ever rising bills. Was this even a consideration when the EAs for these proposed gas plants was done? This is a very big issue relative to proposing to build these gas plants. How can such proposed projects as these be justified? They would add billions of dollars of costs to our power bills, and then there is the unknown long term future cost for the fuel, which will certainly cause significant increases in our power bills.

The reduction of Nova Scotia's carbon footprint from electricity by 80% by 2030 does not mean that NSP has to turn off 100% of the coal plants. Operating an existing, paid for coal fired power plant that might be needed to operate for short periods of time annually makes the need to construct two 300 MW gas plants at a likely cost of $2 billion dollars absurd.

I sincerely believe that spending $2 billion dollars to lock us into gas plants is extremely regressive. Nova Scotia can and should be a leader in our transition towards renewables. It can only happen if we decarbonize and stop supporting fossil fuels.

As Ministers, in this time of global climate crisis and water bankruptcy, it is your responsibility to act for the best long term well being of all Nova Scotians. You should be saying NO to building two 1 billion dollar 300 MW fossil fuel gas plants in Nova Scotia as there are cheaper, better, available options.

Sincerely