{"id":876107,"date":"2026-08-29T18:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T18:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/876107\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T18:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T18:44:16","slug":"is-there-an-economic-case-for-natural-gas-development-in-n-b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/876107\/","title":{"rendered":"Is there an economic case for natural gas development in N.B.?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

As New Brunswick launches a review of its moratorium on shale gas development, the move is raising questions about whether there is an economic case to lift the ban. <\/p>\n

Premier Susan Holt announced the review on Wednesday, which will reassess the moratorium established in 2014. The five-month review will consider whether the five conditions for lifting that ban \u201cstill reflect today\u2019s science, technology, market and regulatory best practices.\u201d <\/p>\n

One of the review’s considerations is the economic impact, but it\u2019s not clear the province\u2019s revenue from gas royalties will exceed what taxpayers may spend to attract investment, said\u00a0 Dave Sawyer, the principal economist with the Canadian Climate Institute.<\/p>\n

He said developing the sector will be expensive up front.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’ll be lots of companies lining up, but they’d also have their hands out,\u201d said Sawyer.<\/p>\n

Jim Emberger, a spokesperson for the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance, said he worries that there might be a delay in the province collecting royalties from development.<\/p>\n

Emberger said if New Brunswick is depending on natural gas development to help increase revenues, the province will have to wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny revenues, if they do accrue, aren’t going to come until well down the line,\u201d said Emberger.<\/p>\n

\"JimJim Emberger of the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance has resisted natural gas development once before. He was a part of the movement against fracking over a decade ago. (Jacques Poitras\/CBC)<\/p>\n

He said more fossil fuels is the last thing the province should be considering.<\/p>\n

When Premier David Alward\u2019s government explored natural gas development<\/a> in 2013, they revealed a royalty system \u2014 a two-tier system with lower royalties for companies starting out that would increase once they started making profits.<\/p>\n

At the time, former energy minister Craig Leonard said higher rates early on would have deterred companies from setting up at all.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the province said during a fiscal update that this year\u2019s deficit is on track to be almost $1.7 billion, $260 million more than originally projected.<\/p>\n

Holt said the economy needs to produce enough revenue to support the services the province provides, including health care.<\/p>\n

Louise Comeau, a senior advisor at the Re.Climate, Carleton University’s centre for climate change communications, said the province needs economic development. But Comeau doesn\u2019t understand why natural gas development is a good option.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many other choices we could make. We don’t even know if there’s an economic opportunity here,\u201d said Comeau.<\/p>\n

LISTEN | Climate change communications researcher reacts to natural gas review:<\/p>\n

Shift – NB12:56Climate Consent<\/p>\n

The environmental impact will be part of the five month review of the province’s shale gas moratorium, and that includes climate change. We’ll speak with researcher Louise Comeau about the issue, and what communities need to feel good about any energy project.<\/p>\n

She said using the deficit as an argument for natural gas development is \u201cdesigned to tell New Brunswickers or Canadians that we have no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt robs us of our agency to actually have a conversation about what the choices we should have available to us,\u201d said Comeau.<\/p>\n

U.S. natural gas dependence<\/p>\n

Holt said producing natural gas in the province would reduce New Brunswick\u2019s reliance on American gas now delivered through the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline.<\/p>\n

Michelle Robichaud, the president of the Atlantic Centre for Energy, said the province uses a \u201csignificant amount of natural gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally, we would have a domestic supply of natural gas so that we are not dependent on the U.S. for a really important energy source that the entire region relies on,\u201d said Robichaud.<\/p>\n

\"AMichelle Robichaud, president of the Atlantica Centre for Energy, welcomes the review of natural gas development in New Brunswick and hopes to be a part of it. (Rachel Cave\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Her organization, an industry-funded think-tank, welcomes the province\u2019s review.<\/p>\n

Robichaud said more natural gas in the existing pipeline could help power more industry, including the newly approved gas plant in Tantramar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What other projects are out there?<\/p>\n

Sawyer said he needs to understand the province\u2019s main goal in pursuing natural gas. If the goal is more energy, he said, the province should consider renewable projects like wind energy.<\/p>\n

Comeau said the province could also think about smaller projects as well, with community ownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern is we’re looking at things that are enormous scale without adequate understanding of the risks that go with those kinds of projects,\u201d said Comeau.<\/p>\n

Robichaud, however, said extracting natural resources, including natural gas and critical minerals, gives the province the best opportunity for economic gain through royalties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-876107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}