For now, Corridor Resources will not be working on any major shale gas projects in the Sussex area or anywhere in New Brunswick.
While the provincial government consults with Indigenous groups and others, exemptions to the fracking moratorium will not be granted.
Jim Emberger of the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance says he’s not surprised by the company’s decision given the poor financial state of the industry.
“Huge oversupply of gas, prices are at historic lows, bankruptcies are mounting. One man in the industry says the business has never been profitable, that 80 percent of what has been invested in has been lost.”
Now that Blaine Higgs’ favourite oil and gas projects are off the table, let’s focus our efforts on supporting economic development that grows our production and use of renewable energy and local food to help communities in every region of New Brunswick to flourish.
— David Coon (@DavidCCoon) August 14, 2019
Emberger says there is a global movement against investing in oil and gas noting the European Investment Bank and other big banks have said they will no longer invest in fossil fuels infrastructure.
“There is a big wave of people saying ‘don’t invest in shale gas and oil right now. It’s really a bad bet.'” Emberger said.
He considers it a hopeful move for the process to know the provincial government will be consulting with First Nations and other groups.
“They need to figure out what it is they actually want to do because obviously the last time around they didn’t have it right. It’s an important thing for Canada to get these kinds of consultations right because it’s more than what is happening here in New Brunswick and these kinds of things are going across the country.” Emberger said.
Emberger says consultations have to take place before you make any decisions and he calls it a bit “paternalistic” of the Higgs government to talk about lifting exemptions before they talk to anybody.
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