Parts of 249 private properties needed to improve transmission link to Nova Scotia, says N.B. Power
'There are still a lot of unknowns': some Memramcook residents upset to lose part of their land to project
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are set to begin construction of the first phase of a large joint project they say will help them keep their commitment to phase out coal by 2030.
The interprovincial electricity transmission line will span 160 kilometres, from Salisbury, new Moncton, to a substation in Onslow, near Truro.
Murielle Belliveau's Memramcook home will be in the shadow of the new transmission tower. She is one of 249 property owners who will lose part of their lot or their homes to the line.
The senior was one of a few dozen people who attended an open house about the project this week, hosted by N.B. Power. The open houses in Salisbury, Tantramar and Memramcook are all areas where the transmission line will pass through.
The environmental impact assessment identifies a total of 267 properties that the power line will cross, totalling 313 hectares. Of those, 249 are privately owned, and many of those property owners from the Memramcook area were in attendance at the recent open house.
"We thought that by coming today we'd have more answers. But there are still a lot of unknowns," said Bellieveau, who lives on Royal Road.
A portion of her family property will be under easement by N.B. Power for the next 75 years.
That means the utility can use the land for a right-of-way, build towers and supports, and install underground or above ground wires, but the resident will still have ownership of the property.
"It's not the full land," she said. "I'm losing just the part where I do my gardening."
Bob Garland, the project director, said property owners don't have a choice.
"N.B. Power has the right to expropriate — we don't take that lightly," he said. "With respect to choice, this is ultimately for the greater good."
According to documents, "where land negotiations are not successful, the expropriation process would be initiated." Property owners will receive "compensation, as appropriate" for their land, which will be negotiated individually.
Garland said the project will twin the existing line that was built in the 1970s, "essentially doubling up on it."
While Belliveau is upset about losing her garden, she also worries about her neighbours, some of whom will have to pack up and move.
"My neighbour has to move, and they are taking over his house," she said. "So that's the sad part, to lose such a wonderful neighbour."
Belliveau said because the transmission line changes direction on her property, the largest of the three tower structures that N.B. Power will be using for the project will be within her field of vision.
"So it will just be like a lot of this structure where there used to be trees and birds and all the beautiful things," she said.
Another neighbour, Jocelyne Richard, said she had breast cancer and went through treatment and open heart surgery in 2016. She worries about the impact the electromagnetic field might have on her health.
"My house is not being bought, but it's gonna be 140 feet from my house," Richard said. "It's like you're getting radiation all the time."
N.B. Power's website for the transmission line links to Health Canada documents which indicate there's no evidence that "extremely low frequency" electromagnetic fields, which are defined as under 300 hertz, cause harm.
But for Richard, it's not the reassurance she wanted.
"I'm being affected and I'm living there, but they're more concerned about the environment than they are about us, the people living in their house so close to the power lines," she said.
Richard was originally told N.B. Power would buy her house and she'd be forced to move. But the lines have moved slightly and now she can stay. Or rather, she's forced to stay.
"I don't know what to do. It's like, where do I go?" she said. "Even now, people know, they already know that there's going to be another power line. So it might affect the selling of my house and the price I can get."
Belliveau says it's caused a lot of anxiety and stress among her and her neighbours.
"I don't want to lose the value of my property, but I'm not in it for financial gain. And I'm sure that other individuals in the room who are losing their homes are not in for the financial gain," she said.
"They would much rather stay in their home and keep doing what they've always done — to harvest the land and just wake up and listen to the birds."
Some residents at the Memramcook open house expressed concern that the public consultation process came too late and the project is moving faster than they expected, but ultimately support the project.
"The last time I talked to a guy from N.B. Power, he told me it could be up to five years. Now, six months later, they come along, and in another six months they're going to be starting," Eugene Gautreau, who lives in Memramcook East, said.
"So that's a big surprise to us."
Gautreau said the line will pass behind the tree line near his property. And while he wishes he'd been more informed, he doesn't have any issues with the project itself going ahead.
"It's like a business," he said. "They've got to do what they've got to do."
Impact on the natural environment
In January 2025, N.B. Power submitted an environmental impact assessment to the Department of Environment for review of their portion of the project.
It identifies 10 species at risk spotted during field studies in 2022 and 2023, including the bald eagle, bank swallow, barn swallow, monarch butterfly, wood turtles and two types of bats.
"We've had bird surveys done, we hired a consultant to walk the entire line and identify water bodies and species at risk," Garland said.
There are also 206 groundwater wells located within the project area, all used as domestic drinking water sources.
The nearly 650-page document includes mitigation measures such as operating machinery in "previously disturbed areas whenever feasible" and avoiding wetlands when building tower structures "unless absolutely necessary."
The Department of Environment will have an opportunity to ask questions about the document, which N.B. Power will have to answer.
But Garland says that "right now there's nothing major with respect to environmental that we're aware of."
The project is still in the planning phase, with construction expected to start in both provinces in 2026.
"It's what ultimately started out as Atlantic Loop, the evolution of the Atlantic Loop," Garland said. On the Nova Scotia side, it's called the N.S.-N.B. Reliability Tie.
Nova Scotia will foot the bill for the entirety of Phase 1, including the New Brunswick portion of the line. In 2023, it was estimated the total project in both provinces, including a Phase 2 extension to Point Lepreau, would cost $1.4 billion.
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