Snap announcement of tidal-power project surprises environmental-assessment team

Nova Scotia has the potential to become a world leader in tidal power. But to be successful, we have to make sure we get it right economically, socially and environmentally.

That's why it's disappointing and even a little alarming that Premier Rodney MacDonald's government rushed out an announcement last Tuesday on a multimillion-dollar test centre on the shores of the Minas Basin - four months before an extensive environmental report is due that is supposed to establish the ground rules for tidal development in the Bay of Fundy.

The horse is now slightly behind the cart.

"This was not what we expected," said Lesley Griffiths, the consultant leading the assessment of potential impacts of tidal development in the Bay of Fundy. "It is clearly disconcerting to some of the stakeholders in this process."

The assessment is being conducted on behalf of the Offshore Energy Environmental Research Association (www.offshoreenergyresearch.ca). MacDonald's government set up the association in 2006, alongside the Offshore Energy Technical Research Association, to fund geoscience research and development with the goal of maximizing Nova Scotia's offshore energy potential.

The assessment headed by Griffiths got underway in May, and has included public forums with input from fishermen, environmentalists, Mi'kmaq groups, industry representatives, municipal officials and concerned citizens. It involves a review of all the known scientific research on the Bay of Fundy, its currents and its ecosystems. Work is being contributed by the environmental consulting firm Jacques Whitford, the Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research at Acadia University, and the Huntsman Marine Science Centre of St. Andrews, N.B.

It's a massive undertaking being done under a compressed timeframe, and by jumping the gun the province risks - at the very least - undermining the assessment's credibility in the eyes of those most nervous about tidal development in the Bay of Fundy.

One of the mandates of the assessment, as stated on the research association's website, is to "advise the government of Nova Scotia on whether, and under what conditions, pilot projects should be permitted."

Announcing a pilot facility and selecting three consortia to test their turbines seems to fly in the face of that mandate, although the government insists the environmental assessment will help guide the facility's development and location.

"There's nothing done to this point that can't be undone," said Matt Lumley, spokesman for Nova Scotia's Energy Department.

However, undoing things isn't always so easy. The government has set matters in motion.

Plans are being made. Money is being spent. Directions are being set. Momentum is being built.

Griffiths said the assessment team, despite never expecting pilots would be announced until after its work was complete, is taking the government's word at face value.

"We're not trimming our mandate," she said. "Everything's still on the table as far as we're concerned, including issues relating to the demonstration facility - not just this particular demonstration facility, but the whole notion of whether and how and where these different technologies ought to be tested in the Bay of Fundy."

The Bay of Fundy assessment is unlike any other environmental assessment ever before conducted in Nova Scotia, and perhaps all of Canada. Traditionally, environmental assessments have examined the potential impacts and recommended mitigating measures for specific project proposals.

This, however, is a "strategic environmental assessment." It's designed to take a step back and investigate broader questions.

Should there be tidal energy development in the Bay of Fundy? If so, are there preferred areas for turbines? Are there areas where turbines absolutely shouldn't go? Are there preferred technologies, and ownership structures? How can any development be done to maximize the benefits to local communities?

The idea is to help government create policies that will guide an entirely new industry in a way that best suits Nova Scotia's interests. Individual project proponents will still have to undergo the normal project-specific assessments, but they'll go in knowing what the ground rules are and, therefore, should come forward with proposals tailored to the province's goals.

"There are plenty of good reasons for doing tidal," explained Meinhard Doelle, co-chairman of the assessment's technical advisory group, in an October interview. Doelle is a professor of marine and environmental law at Dalhousie University.

"On the other hand, there are also a lot of questions and concerns, and they're legitimate questions and concerns. So, working through those issues and trying to figure out whether, where, under what conditions we can benefit from tidal is exactly the kind of thing a strategic environmental assessment should do ...

"Are there areas where there should be no tidal energy development because of existing uses, because of biodiversity concerns, because of subsea flowing ice and the impact that that's going to have on the technology? Those kinds of things, you can decide up front."

Contrast this to wind farms. In its haste to claim progress on green energy, the government failed to establish a regime of best practices. No standards were put in place, for example, for minimum setbacks from residential properties, protecting sightlines, or trying to engage community ownership. This resulted in acrimony in many rural villages that suddenly found themselves hosting towering industrial turbines owned by people living far away.

It wasn't until this past fall that MacDonald's government agreed to cost-share a $45,000 study with the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities on best practices for bylaws regulating wind turbine siting. The final Jacques Whitford report on that issue is expected later this month.

The pressures to get off to a fast start on tidal development are even greater. Developers are eager to get out of the gate, because if Nova Scotia manages to become a world leader in tidal power, we'll be positioned to build an export industry here, as Denmark did with wind energy technology and expertise. Taking the lead would also be a desperately needed political victory for MacDonald.

Griffiths says the strategic assessment can still produce great benefits, in spite of Tuesday's pilot announcement. Exactly how great will depend on how committed the government is to following through on the assessment's recommendations.

Given the time, money and effort that have been spent on it, plus the engagement of so many groups and individuals, it would be exceptionally unwise for the government to circumvent such a valuable process that it, itself, has established.

But politics have caused stranger things to happen.