While N.S. pushes ahead on lifting fracking moratorium, N.B. minister says it's not on the table

Mia Urquhart · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 26, 2025 4:08 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

As Nova Scotia tries to assistance its moratorium connected fracking, it's improbable New Brunswick volition travel suit.

There's important involvement successful expanding New Brunswick's assets exploration, but that doesn't see hydraulic fracturing, Natural Resources John Herron said recently. 

Herron spoke successful the legislature astir launching a provincial "mineral strategy to unlock the economical imaginable of the mining sector."

But that strategy "has perfectly thing to bash with the improvement of earthy state from shale," Herron said aft his speech. 

"There is simply a moratorium successful spot and I don't spot immoderate grounds that there's an appetite amongst New Brunswickers to alteration the presumption of that moratorium."

Herron said that portion determination is "clearly a request for captious minerals … the aforesaid cannot beryllium said with respect to earthy gas."

First of all, there's a moratorium successful place. 

"Secondly," helium said, "to beryllium rather frank, where's the market?"

He said determination are important deposits successful shale beds successful Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York — enough to proviso the northeastern United States.

"That's not our marketplace and — this conscionable successful — it's a small hard to commercialized with the Americans these days," Herron said. 

"So the markets would person to beryllium planetary and that would necessitate a liquefaction plant — to marque the LNG terminal successful Saint John to an exporting terminal." 

When that program was past considered astir a twelve years ago, the terms tag was $4 to $5 billion, said Herron. 

N.S. says fracking tin strengthen province successful tariff war

On Tuesday, the Nova Scotia authorities passed 3rd speechmaking of a measure that would assistance a moratorium connected fracking.

Premier Tim Houston began talking earlier this twelvemonth astir the request for the state to capitalize connected the imaginable of its earthy resources. In trying to explicate the argumentation displacement connected fracking, helium said it would besides marque Nova Scotia much financially self-sufficient successful the look of a commercialized warfare with the United States.

Kris Austin, New Brunswick PC professional for earthy resources, did not respond to an interrogation petition connected Wednesday. 

Rocky roadworthy with Indigenous chiefs

The contented is simply a delicate 1 for Mi'kmaw and Wolastoqey communities successful New Brunswick. 

The chiefs of some nations person ever said assets improvement volition not hap without their engagement oregon consent. 

While astatine an planetary hydrogen acme successful the Netherlands successful 2023, then-premier Blaine Higgs told an online concern work the timepiece is ticking for the state to instrumentality vantage of consenting partners successful Europe for earthy gas. 

"We've gotta get connected with it," helium said. 

"I privation First Nations to beryllium portion of this, but determination comes a clip erstwhile you've conscionable gotta find a mode to determination on, if I can't person immoderate meaningful treatment to marque it happen," helium was quoted arsenic saying.

At the time, the New Brunswick chiefs issued a associated connection saying the premier's "sudden alteration of position, without immoderate further dialog with First Nations, besides underlines wherefore First Nations deficiency spot successful the Higgs government." 

Interview requests for some Indigenous groups were sent Wednesday, but nary 1 has been made available.