Opposition to the "Centre Village Renewables Integration and Grid Security Project"

As a multi generation local, with deep roots to this area, I cannot imagine living anywhere else. From the first tombstone in the Midgic Cemetery, it is like looking out at my family tree. I am deeply connected to this land, this land my family have worked on and given their lives to. I am raising my family here and carrying on the traditions of my people. This area is not an industrial site. This area is a natural gem full of irreplaceable wildlife and home to the vitally important Chignecto Isthmus - a vitally important wildlife corridor connecting NB to NS. Surrounded by National Wildlife Areas like the Tintamarre wetlands and Tantramar Marsh and protected lands everywhere across this region - wetlands and waterways dot and cross this whole area.

Centre Village/Midgic is a nature preserve surrounded by open marshes worked by farmers like my family, by woodlands full of rich bio diversity, by old woods that are rich of life and make for irreplaceable animal habitats. You simply do not fill in a wetlands and clear cut an area like this. This is not the place for something of that scale, of that level of potential irreversible harm. The Chignecto Isthmus matters and the attempted avoidance of using that term 'Chignecto Isthmus' throughout this process is sickening. You cannot ignore this area by avoiding calling it what it is: a natural gem and an irreplaceable land corridor that needs to be left alone. 

To fill in a wetlands -- which is rich because they said that the Scoudouc industrial park site was not favourable due to 'wetlands' nearby, but have no problem filling in a site that itself is literally 50% wetlands by their own admission and surrounded by wetlands and woods in all directions -- is criminal in scale. This is not the place for a fossil fuel, gas burning generating plant, for multitudes of reasons. It would alter the landscape irreversibly. The potential for damage is far too great. By their own admission, it is uphill from local waters, from rivers, from wetlands, all connected and leading to the Tantramar River spilling out into the Bay of Fundy. People fish here - and fish sea trout - and hunt this area. People work those fields all summer long collecting hay and crops. This type of landscape, a mix of nature and rich agricultural farming land, is irreplaceable and rare.

An industrial site is the place for something like this gargantuan monstrosity in scale of a project. We all live on wells, and our water sources are not unlimited. We are currently in a severe drought, with highest fire risk on record, and this area is so at risk. We live at least 30 minutes from a small volunteer fire station, and they are ill equipped to deal with any disasters if the worst case scenario happens. What if there was a forest fire. Our strong Fundy winds would see this area destroyed. The fall out from this factory would be a disaster. A complete disaster, full stop. 

Westray saw another rural community in neighbouring NS destroyed, and we would follow a similar blow. They have no disaster plan - they simply claim a disaster would not happen. They are gambling on our lives, our livelihoods, and treating this rich landscape, this vital wildlife corridor of the Chignecto Isthmus, as a risk worth taking. As disposable. We are not, and this landscape is not. They could not have picked a worse location if they tried. Centre Village is literally center of the migration route for wildlife, especially for NB/NS mainland moose - at risk and this area is recognized as vital for the moose population - and for countless other terrestrial species at risk, and for migratory birds. There was a infamous mass kill off of song birds, some 7500, in NB from a similar set up and this would occur again. The cost of this plant is not worth the risks. There are cheaper, safer, simpler solutions that other provinces are taking. We have the tech available that does not pose a threat to wildlife and the health and wellbeing of those who inhabit the Chignecto Isthmus. Our lives and the lives of the wildlife here matter too. 

~ Pamela Wheaton