An electrical problem interrupted a Utility and Review Board hearing in Halifax on Monday on a proposed $208-million biomass energy project that critics say is bad for the environment.
"It’s kind of ironic," said Jamie Simpson of the Ecology Action Centre, who submitted a brief to board chairman Peter Gurnham before the power problem. It outlined the Halifax centre’s reservations about biomass as a way to reduce the province’s dependency on coal as an energy source.
"We certainly don’t oppose biomass energy per se, but we think it needs to be looked at much more critically than it is right now," Simpson said in an interview, suggesting that the proposal would hurt, rather than help, the province’s environment.
"We would actually see an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases that Nova Scotia is producing, not a reduction."
Nova Scotia Power Inc. has applied for approval of a plan that would see NewPage, an Ohio company that owns a paper mill in Port Hawkesbury, burn 650,000 tonnes of wood waste a year to generate electricity.
The utility says the plan would help it meet provincial renewable energy standards while generating enough electricity to power 50,000 homes annually.
NewPage said half of the waste wood would come from its sawmill and papermaking operations.
The rest would be harvested, with half of that taken from Crown lands under a 25-year deal NewPage negotiated with the province.
Some Nova Scotia sawmill operators, hit hard in recent years by downturns in the lumber sector, say the project would be good for business.
But critics say the jury is still out on whether biomass energy is as sustainable as its proponents suggest.
"There’s a common perception out there that forest biomass energy is carbon neutral but new research being done shows that forest biomass is a much more complicated issue than originally expected," Simpson said.
"In fact, on a per-energy-unit basis, you actually produce more carbon dioxide when you burn wood than when you burn fossil fuels, even coal."
He said a recent study by the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences in Massachusetts underscores the need to know more about biomass energy before establishing government policy.
"Based on that research, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has decided to overhaul their renewable energy standard," said Simpson, who suggested that Nova Scotia should do the same.
"If we were to look at the science that’s emerging on this topic, then we would most certainly revise our renewable energy standard and change the definition of renewable forest biomass."
Retired Dalhousie biology professor David Patriquin said the Nova Scotia Power-NewPage project would harm the environment.
"Plants of this type increase carbon emissions, they don’t reduce them," he said, adding that the project would also hurt the province’s nutrient-poor soil.
"Between the two of those things, this project is not sustainable, by definition."
Kelly Cantwell, the power company’s director of renewable energy, acknowledged Monday that the utility doesn’t have a lot of biomass expertise. However, she noted that the government has supported the project.
In its renewable electricity plan released in April, the province said it is taking a cautious approach to the development of biomass for electricity production.
It is capping new forest biomass generation at 500,000 tonnes above current uses, among other limits, and will review biomass as a source of electricity after 2015.
The hearing continues today. It will move to Port Hawkesbury for a tour of the proposed biomass plant site Friday.
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