PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
August 22 2018
Canadian and German groups ask Germany not to finance fracking in Canada
MONTREAL – In a letter sent today to German Environment and Economy Ministers, a coalition of Canadian and German groups asked Germany to withdraw from a loan guarantee process which would provide more than $4 billion US to Pieridae Energy Limited, a Calgary-based company. The signatories include Regroupement vigilance hydrocarbures Québec, Environnement Vert Plus, the Council of Canadians, Nova Scotia Fracking Resource and Action Coalition (NOFRAC) and Ecology Action Centre (EAC), in Canada, Food and Water Watch Europe, 350.org, Gastivists and BUNDjungend in Europe, as well as 25 other groups on both sides of the Atlantic ocean.
The German guarantee would enable construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal with an export capacity of 10 million metric tons a year in Goldboro, Nova Scotia. The financing would be granted in return for a commitment to guarantee Germany a part of the exported LNG. Already, German Uniper S.E. made a commitment to buy at least 50% (5 million metric tons) of the total capacity of the terminal for 20 years.
The loan guarantee would also support Pieridae’s project to produce approximately half of the 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day necessary to supply the terminal. According to Pieridae’s corporate presentation dated June 2018, the gas exported to Europe would be supplied by fracking in Western Canada (74 %), Eastern Canada (13 %), and the Marcellus shale in the United States (13 %). In the same presentation, Pieridae indicates that according to the new regulations on hydrocarbons in Quebec, its first production would come from the Bourque project in Gaspésie while the exploration would continue at the Haldimand 1 well in Gaspé as well as on all other “properties” of Pieridae in Quebec, in particular Gaspesia site, near the Gaspésie national park. The Frederick Brooks and Hiram Brook sites are also targeted in New Brunswick where, according to Pieridae, the Conservative Party indicated that it will end the moratorium on fracking if it is elected on September 24th of this year. About three quarters of the gas liquified and exported in Goldboro would come from Western Canada, within supply agreements and other acquisitions. Additional details are available in the Laurentian Bank Securities analysis dated January 16, 2018.
Quotations
“If the Goldboro LNG plant were built, it would increase Nova Scotia’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% – after over a decade of hard fought decreases in emissions. Neither Germany nor the electric utility Uniper buying the LNG would use the gas to retire coal fired electricity production. And even if that changed in the future, the small decrease in green house gases emitted in Germany would not compensate the significant emission increases from Canadian gas fields and from the giant LNG compressors in Nova Scotia.”
Ken Summers, Nova Scotia Fracking Resource and Action Coalition (NOFRAC)
“Germany’s financial support for Pieridae Energy would have a direct impact on the Gaspésie area, a world natural jewel where the population was never consulted and where the projected production sites are at the head of the watersheds of some of the most precious salmon rivers in the world. Germany should not finance fracking overseas.”
Pascal Bergeron, Environnement Vert Plus
“The Goldboro plant is one of three major LNG terminals with provincial approvals in Nova Scotia, which together would increase provincial emissions by more than 75% by 2030 and greatly increase fracking across North America. This project is a terrible investment, and would simply be ignoring the realities of climate change and our collective responsibility to support a just transition to a low-carbon economy.”
Stephen Thomas, Energy Campaign Coordinator, Ecology Action Centre (EAC)
“Germany should not support the proliferation of fracking projects in Canada while this technique is hotly criticized on its own territory. Fracking destroys the ecosystems and communities everywhere it is practiced, and natural gas contributes powerfully to global warming, no matter where it is extracted or burned. Germany, as well as Canada, must move away from fossil fuels.”
Carole Dupuis, Regroupement vigilance hydrocarbures Québec
“This loan guarantee will enable continued fossil fuel extraction, transportation, and consumption. We know that the fossil fuel industry causes serious harm to Indigenous and other marginalized peoples, to water, health, and our climate in the name of private profits. These harms are unacceptable and must not be supported by the German government.”
Robin Tress, Council of Canadians
Great to see this kind of interest in development of Canadian resources, creating jobs and providing community services to Canadians, with funding going to seniors,minorities ,indigenous groups as well as education for the new generation of Canadians. Go Canada !!
Len-
I’m not sure if you were doing a tongue-in-cheek with regard to your comments and the issues raised in this story. Our local citizens’ group- Guysborough Communities Coalition, of which I am on the steering committee, is also opposed to this LNG plant.
We do however, really appreciate how fragile the economy of rural Nova Scotia is- but do not feel a huge 170-acre LNG plant will be a good solution for the Goldboro area.
Alexander