New Brunswick's energy minister is defending a proposal to keep burning coal in the province past a federal deadline, saying it's the only way the province can meet greenhouse gas targets without having to build an expensive new power plant. Mike Holland says the federal government's 2030 deadline for phasing out coal doesn't give the government enough time to put in place alternatives such as small nuclear reactors. The Government of New Brunswick has asked that Ottawa allow NB Power to keep burning coal at its Belledune generating station until 2040. And the timeline is even more pressing in light of new, even more aggressive greenhouse gas emissions goals from the federal government. A second would have seen the plant burn byproduct gas from an iron plant that would have been the biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the province.

Source: CBC News July 21, 2021 19:22 UTC