Thursday, May 8, 2025 - Today the Houston government announced a series of changes to Nova Scotia's environmental assessment (EA) process. The government is framing these changes as a commitment to fight climate change and support clean energy. Efforts to ramp up renewable energy and create a green economy in N.S. are crucial, however, the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) is concerned by a continued lack of transparency and accountability in the EA process, and finds little to suggest that the updates will meaningfully support a clean energy transition.
Shouting into a void: a lack of transparency and accountability to the public
In 2023, the province conducted a public consultation on changes to the EA process. The results, obtained by the EAC through a Freedom of Information request, clearly reflect what communities throughout N.S. have been telling us: the public wants better transparency in the EA process — specifically regarding the justification for approving projects — and accountability to the input provided in consultations. This is not reflected, or even mentioned, in the changes. While we are happy to see a 10-day extension to the public consultation period, the longer timeline makes no meaningful difference if it is just 10 more days of shouting into a void.
The government needs to strengthen public trust in renewable energy development. Ignoring communities’ wishes for transparency and accountability in the EA process will do nothing to achieve this.
Four out of five EGCCRA considerations missing
The government’s press release on the updates refers to a 2021 commitment in the Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act (EGCCRA) to modernize the EA process. And yet, only one of the five considerations contained in this section of EGCCRA is actually reflected in the changes announced today.
While we are happy to see climate change finally included as a consideration, the EA process still lacks considerations for cumulative impacts; diversity, equity and inclusion; independent review and the Mi’kmaw concept of Netukulimk.
A Trojan Horse for dead-end industries
If these updates are meant to signal a commitment to fighting climate change and supporting clean energy, it is worrying to see mention of dead-end, risky industries like biomass burning for electricity, small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) and fossil fuels — all of which were included in the province’s technical briefing.
Biomass
Burning forest biomass for electricity is not a climate solution. The harvesting and burning of forest biomass for electricity is highly inefficient and produces more carbon pollution than fossil fuels. Regrowing forests lost to this practice to try and counteract these emissions would take decades. With less than one per cent of Nova Scotia’s old-growth forests left intact and a growing list of forest-dependent at-risk species, burning biomass for electricity production also places unacceptable pressure on natural habitats. To position this as a sustainable energy source, streamline project approvals and remove certain biomass projects from the EA process entirely — and into the industrial approval process, in which there is no public input — is nothing more than reckless greenwashing.
If existing biomass residuals from forestry practices were used only for small-scale space heating of buildings, concerns would be limited (though emissions would still need to be accounted for). However, nothing in the government’s language or its history with biomass inspires confidence that the burning of biomass for electricity generation would be off the table.
Gas-fired reliability generators
Today’s technical briefing also mentions fast-acting generation for stabilizing Nova Scotia’s grid, and moves “fast acting reliability generators” to Class 1. Class 1 environmental assessments “are usually smaller in scale and may or may not cause significant environmental impacts or be of sufficient concern to the public”1. However, it should be understood that – in this instance – the term fast-acting reliability generators refers specifically to gas turbines. The public should be concerned about overreliance on gas and other fossil fuels as a method of maintaining grid reliability.
More sustainable methods of increasing the reliability of our electrical grid — including the construction of additional grid-scale battery storage, reductions in demand through energy efficiency measures and the construction of transmission lines to other provinces — should not be under-valued in favor of increased reliance on gas. The idea that the construction of gas-fired power plants will not cause environmental impacts or be of sufficient concern to the public should be viewed with extreme skepticism.
Small modular nuclear reactors
Finally, SMRs are a widely contested technology that is years away from becoming a viable climate solution. A focus on SMR projects is an unnecessary distraction from viable clean energy solutions like wind and solar that can be implemented right now. When coupled with the Houston government’s recent lifting of the ban on uranium exploration in N.S., the inclusion of SMRs in the technical brief is concerning.
All in all, the changes announced today are a missed opportunity to modernize Nova Scotia’s EA process in a way that would strengthen public trust in project approvals and meaningfully support a transition to a clean energy economy. It signals a potential desire to expediate dead-end industries that will hinder our efforts to decarbonize and shows a lack of respect for the public’s desire for transparency and accountability.
Whereas many of the truly clean energy sources – including wind and solar – already fell under the faster Class 1 assessment process, the claim that changes announced today will help us create a clean energy economy faster feels more like spin than substance.