Climate change hearings told to keep old power plants

The New Brunswick government's select committee on climate change made a stop back at its home base Thursday, with a full day at the provincial legislature.

The committee has been touring New Brunswick, and this was the sixth day of presentations, coming after Sackville on Wednesday and Moncton on Tuesday.

All the presenters agreed climate change was an important issue that needed long-term planning by the province.

But one presentation did buck the trend; Ross Galbraith, business manager with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said green technology wouldn't be able to fill power needs in the province for a long time.

Galbraith said while wind and solar did a lot to make people feel as if they were making a difference, those technologies were incapable of replacing the power generating systems that are in place today, and current systems would be needed well into the future.

"While the eventual move off of fossil fuels is certainly necessary, it's equally necessary that we strike the proper balance, and not find ourselves in the situation of many other jurisdictions, where the move away from baseload power generation is causing reliability issues," he said.

With energy-hungry technologies such as electric cars on the horizon, he said New Brunswick should continue investing in our current power plants in Belledune and Colson Cove to have them run cleaner and more efficient.

"Our fossil fuel generating stations are some of the cleanest in the world," Galbraith reminded the committee.

Galbraith also suggested looking at more nuclear options, including small modular reactors, being developed by a Canadian company in Mississauga.

The committee has another day of presentations at the legislature scheduled for Friday.