Workshops Seek Public Input On Energy Policy, Climate Change

The province is seeking public input to revise its provincial energy policy and create a greenhouse-gas action plan.

Public workshops are scheduled for Monday, Nov. 19, in Yarmouth and Tuesday, Nov. 20, in Digby. Both meetings will run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and be chaired by Dalhousie University oceanography professor Bob Fournier.

The Yarmouth workshop will be held at the Grand Hotel, 417 Main St. The Digby meeting will be at the Fundy Restaurant, 34 Water St.

"The province has set a deadline of 2020 for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions 10 per cent below 1990 levels," said Jamie Muir, acting Energy Minister. "We're committed to achieving that goal while maintaining a strong and growing economy."

Mr. Fournier, who recently chaired an environmental assessment of the proposed White's Point Quarry near Digby, said meeting those goals presents challenges for policy planners.

"Our electricity, which is mostly coal-fired, generates about 42 per cent of our greenhouse gases," said Mr. Fournier. "How do we reduce our use of coal without driving up electricity prices? How do we balance our need for wind power with our ability to provide adequate back-up power? What new technologies or initiatives should we be promoting to meet our green energy needs?

"These are challenging questions and we want public input before we generate a policy that is to guide the province for years."

The province has created two documents, Consultation Paper: Nova Scotia's Renewed Energy Strategy and A Background Paper to Guide Nova Scotia's Climate Change Action Plan, to help inform public discussion. The first deals with broad energy policy and the second with climate change –- especially action to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

The documents can be found online at www.gov.ns.ca/energy/energystrategy . The province will also accept written submissions on energy strategy and greenhouse-gas reductions until Dec. 12.

The workshops are the first two of 12 sessions to be held around the province.

Information gathered at the public-consultation sessions will be used to create the energy strategy and the climate action plan, scheduled for release in the spring.

Under the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, Nova Scotia has established a target to have one of the cleanest and most sustainable environments in the world by 2020.