Initial Statement Regarding the Cape Sharp Tidal Demonstration Project in the Bay of Fundy

Ecology Action Centre, May 24, 2016

In keeping with our mandate and vision of environmental protection and sustainable prosperity, the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) supports the development of renewable energy. We strongly encourage Nova Scotians and the Nova Scotia government to transition to a society run on 100% renewable energy by 2050. This transition must consider the rights of indigenous peoples and respect for communities and stakeholders at the forefront. The EAC supports the development of tidal electricity with the hope that it can one day play a unique role in Nova Scotia’s renewable energy transition and green economy.

The EAC maintains that all energy development must be carried out such that it has a net environmental benefit and minimizes the impact on surrounding ecosystems. As such, it is imperative that the impacts of tidal energy on the marine ecosystem and on the livelihoods that rely on it are monitored and understood, to ensure impacts are avoided or mitigated. This is supported by the Nova Scotia government as is evident in the following statement:

The effects of introducing new technologies must be monitored and understood as development proceeds. This need is underlined by the fact that the most prospective areas for tidal energy projects are the Bay of Fundy and the Minas Basin, which are part of one ofthe most productive marine ecosystems in the world.” Source: Marine Renewable Legislation for Nova Scotia1

The Cape Sharp Tidal Demonstration Project is located at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) in the Bay of Fundy, one of Canada’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems, and host to many important fisheries. The Minas Basin is very unique, experiencing the world’s highest tides and some of the world’s strongest currents. The flow through the passage equals the combined flow of all of the world’s rivers. The ecosystem is home to many species of marine mammals, and many fish species, including those that are commercially important for fisheries in the region. The Minas Basin also provides important habitat for severely depleted marine fish species assessed by the Committee on the Status of Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) including Atlantic Sturgeon2, American Eel3, Atlantic Salmon4, and Striped Bass5 . The Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic Salmon population is listed as endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act.6

FORCE was established to assess the feasibility of safely generatingrenewable energy from tidal turbines. In 2009, Nova Scotia Power and OpenHydro tested a 1-megawatt turbine at the FORCE site, but it was destroyed within 20 days as a result of the significant tides. OpenHydro and Emera are seeking to install two significantly larger 2-megawatt turbines in what is known as the Cape Sharp Tidal Demonstration Project. If the initial demonstration is successful, additional turbines may be added to the Cape Sharp site, scaling up from a 4-megawatt operation to 300-megawatts by the 2020s.7 Cape Sharp is the first of several tidal turbine projects proposed for the FORCE site.8 The turbines are slated for deployment into the Minas Passage in June, 2016.

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Fishermen, scientists, and the general public have expressed concerns that appropriate monitoring measures are not in place to safely move forward with installing and operating these new experimental turbines. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) reviewed FORCE’s first research and monitoring results report for the single turbine in 2012, and found that “insufficient research and monitoring had been undertaken to evaluate the effects of the [turbine] on valued ecosystem components of the Bay of Fundy”.9

FORCE then produced a follow-up baseline report and hired SLR Consulting to create a proposed five year Environmental Effects Monitoring Program (EEMP)10 to DFO for review in 2015. Following this, DFO released its Review of the Environmental Effects Monitoring Program for the Fundy Tidal Energy Project in April, 201611, and found that the FORCE’s baseline report and SLR’s proposed EEMP are lacking in several important areas, including:

• Inabilitytomonitormortality: Inability to sufficiently account for the interaction of turbines with fishes or marine mammals, including monitoring mortality levels.

• Lackofknowledgeonturbineinteractionswithwildlife: Inability to characterize interactions between species of interest (i.e., Atlantic Sturgeon, American Eel, Atlantic Salmon, and Striped Bass) and turbines as well as inadequate monitoring of the effect turbines may have on lobster in the region.

• Gapsinbaselinedata: Insufficient baseline monitoring to provide a proper understanding of the Minas Passage marine environment, and gaps in baseline data sets, where studies were not conducted year round to determine the presence of marine mammals in the proposed test region, resulting in an inability to monitor and measure behavioural changes that turbines may cause.

• Lackofaccountingforspatialandtemporalchanges: Inadequate provisions for monitoring varying presence of fish during winter months, including Striped Bass and inability to monitor changes of mid-field area use for Harbour Porpoises.

• Lackofaccountingforeffectsofscalingup: Lack of provisions to account for scaling up or intensifying of effects between turbines and marine life as more turbines are installed in the area.

• Lackoftechnologyspecifications: Insufficient information exists to determine if sonar technology can identify marine fish to the species level, and an inadequate level of detail regarding proposed technologies to be used and their configuration.

• Lackofmitigationmeasures: Insufficient mitigative measures are identified should negative impacts arise as a result of testing.

DFO concluded that “a more detailed EEMP is required to thoroughly understand the proposed methods, data collection, analysis, and how the results will be compared to the baseline data. Without such information, it is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness or likelihood of success of the proposed EEMP”.12 This statement suggests that the proposed EEMP would be in contravention of the provincial statement regarding monitoring and understanding impacts.

A new FORCE EEMP was released in March, 2016.13 According to representatives from the Cape Sharp project and from FORCE, there are only two minor differences between the proposed EEMP that DFO reviewed and the new FORCE EEMP. This means that the concerns highlighted by DFO in their review remain to be addressed.

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A new EEMP specific to the Cape Sharp project has been developed, but only a summary of the EEMP14 is available as Cape Sharp holds that they are unable to share commercially sensitive information with the public. The FORCE EEMP and the Cape Sharp-specific EEMP must be approved by Nova Scotia Environment before any turbines can be deployed to the water.

At this early stage of tidal turbine development, it is critical that government and industry make extraordinary efforts to understand all potential impacts on the marine environment and on sustainable livelihoods before moving forward with further phases of Bay of Fundy tidal power projects. The tidal power industry and monitoring bodies, including FORCE, must work closely with scientists from DFO, other federal agencies, and educational institutions to continually develop a credible monitoring and research program. Indigenous peoples, fishermen, and other community members need to be fully included as stakeholders in the decision making process around this project. Failing to do so will be a missed opportunity and could negatively impact Nova Scotia’s efforts to be an international leader in an emerging renewable energy industry.

The EAC acknowledges that test turbines such as those at the Cape Sharp Tidal Demonstration Project must be deployed in order to test the feasibility of safely generating renewable electricity from tidal energy. However, environmental effects from turbines in such a uniue environment are far from predictable, and as such a precautionary approach should be adopted. A lack of existing technology is not a sufficient excuse to not properly monitor effects. These test turbines must be properly monitored to test and validate assumptions, while providing a safeguard should unacceptable levels of environmental impacts occur. TheEAC’spositionisthataworldclassandcuttingedgeprojectinaregionwiththeworld’shighesttidesandsomeofitsstrongestcurrentsrequiresworldclassandcuttingedgemonitoring.

Recommendations1.Moving forward with the Cape Sharp tidal demonstration project first requires that appropriate monitoring measures are in place. Failing to properly monitor effects will be a missed opportunity to set a high standard for tidal energy generation the world over, and may allow unacceptable harm to the ecosystem to go undetected. 2.Concerns regarding FORCE’s proposed Environmental Effects Monitoring Program, including those identified in the DFO review (April, 2016)15 must be addressed before the addition of any new turbines in the Minas Passage. 3. FORCE should publicly display DFO’s April, 2016 Review of the Environmental Effects Monitoring Program for the Fundy Tidal Energy Project on their website.4. FORCE’s consultation process must be transparent and ongoing for all stakeholders, and must include commercial and recreational fishermen, indigenous peoples, and the general public.5.Cape Sharp should release its full EEMP, rather than just the summary. The Cape Sharp Tidal Demonstration Project is meant to set a standard for the industry as a whole, and therefore no commercially sensitive information should be withheld from relevant stakeholders or the public.

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References1 Nova Scotia Department of Energy. (no date). Marine renewable energy legislation for Nova Scotia. Retrieved from http://energy.novascotia.ca/sites/default/files/NS-MRE%20Legislation.pdf2 COSEWIC. (2011). COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Atlantic Sturgeon. Retrieved from http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/cosewic/sr_Atlantic%20Sturgeon_2011_e.pdf3 COSEWIC. (2013). COSEWIC assessment and status report on the American Eel. Retrieved from http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/cosewic/sr_anguille_amer_eel_1012_e.pdf4 COSEWIC. (2011). COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Atlantic Salmon. Retrieved from http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/cosewic/sr_Atlantic_Salmon_2011a_e.pdf5 COSEWIC. (2012). COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Striped Bass. Retrieved from http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/cosewic/sr_bar_raye_striped_bass_1213a_e.pdf6 Government of Canada Species at Risk Public Registry. (2016). Species at risk public registry: Atlantic Salmon inner Bay of Fundy population. Retrieved from http://www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/species/speciesDetails_e.cfm?sid=6727 Cape Sharp Tidal. (2015). The Cape Sharp tidal project. Retrieved from http://capesharptidal.com/about-the-project/8 Natural Resources Canada. (2015). Tidal energy project in the Bay of Fundy. Retrieved from http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/funding/current-funding-programs/cef/49559 Fisheries and Oceans Canada. (2016). Review of the Environmental Effects Monitoring Program for the Fundy Tidal Energy Project. Retrieved from http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ScR-RS/2016/2016_022-eng.pdf

10 SLR Consulting. (2015). Proposed Environmental Effects Monitoring Programs 2015-2020. Retrieved from http://fundyforce.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/SLR-REPORT.pdf11 Fisheries and Oceans Canada. (2016). Review of the Environmental Effects Monitoring Program for the Fundy Tidal Energy Project. Retrieved from http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ScR-RS/2016/2016_022-eng.pdf12 Fisheries and Oceans Canada. (2016). Review of the Environmental Effects Monitoring Program for the Fundy Tidal Energy Project. Retrieved from http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ScR-RS/2016/2016_022-eng.pdf13 FORCE. (2016). Environmental Effects Monitoring Programs. Retrieved from http://fundyforce.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/FORCE-EEMP-2016.pdf14 Cape Sharp Tidal. (no date). Cape Sharp Tidal Environmental Effects Monitoring Program (EEMP) Summary. Retrieved from http://staging.capesharptidal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Cape-Sharp-Tidal_EEMP-Summary1.pdf15 Fisheries and Oceans Canada. (2016). Review of the Environmental Effects Monitoring Program for the Fundy Tidal Energy Project. Retrieved from http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ScR-RS/2016/2016_022-eng.pdf

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