David Coon, MLA/Député

Fredericton –David Coon, MLA for Fredericton South and Leader of the Green Party of New Brunswick, has suggested that NB Power expand its public consultation process.  On Tuesday, NB Power held its first in a series of five open houses on the future of the Mactaquac hydro dam. The Green Party would like to see the public utility schedule public presentations on the results of its environmental and social impact reviews of the three options under consideration.

“I have spoken with Gaetan Thomas, CEO of NB Power, about the idea of adding public presentations so the public can gain a good understanding of the environmental and social impacts of the three options for the future of Mactaquac,” said Coon.  “It is important that people understand the impacts of the options in order to provide informed comment during the consultation period.  Having the authors of the impact reports would be the best way to inform New Brunswickers.”

Two studies are publicly available online: a Comparative Environmental Review and a Social Impact Comparative Review.  Reports on the options for fish passage and the comparative economic impacts of the alternatives will not be available until early next year.

“Public and First Nations engagement is critical for a decision of this magnitude,” said Coon. “I’d like to see the NB Power public engagement process to be as comprehensive as possible, which means investing time in publicly presenting the results of NB Power’s various studies.”

– 30 –