Updated May 12, 2018
Biofuels have their flag wavers firmly embedded in government
Somehow or another I happened upon Senior Official’s Travel Expenses – Apr 1, 2017 to Mar 31, 2018 as at Apr 19, 2018, and noted that Allan Eddy – a Company Man (as former senior forester with NSP) who was Associate Deputy Minister of DNR for a period and was transferred to Agriculture and Fisheries and Aquaculture on Dec 12, 2016 where he became and still is Associate Deputy Minister* – chalked up some expenses for attending the Biorefinery Conference June 7-9, 2017.
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*May 12: Some confusion here: Allan Eddy is also listed as Executive Director of Corporate Strategic Initiatives (Finance and Treasury Board). On his linkedin profile it states “Allan Eddy joined the Nova Scotia Department of Finance and Treasury Board in July 2017. Previous to this position, he has served in a senior executive role in three previous departments.” So I guess he is no longer with Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture although he is still listed as Associate Deputy Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture (websites accessed May 12, 2018).
The website for that conference is no longer available, instead searches bring up Atlantic BIOCON 2018: GROWING THE BIOECONOMY IN ATLANTIC CANADA (Fredericton, New Brunswick on May 23rd and 24th, 2018). Key words splashed across the bottom of the program page for the upcoming conference are: biofuels – bioenergy – aquaculture – agriculture – forestry – marine
It was Eddy who as Associate Deputy Minister of DNR (and former senior forester with NSP) said NSP has “an obligation to its ratepayers to get wood fibre as cheaply as possible [for the NSPI biomass boiler]” and “the cheapest way is to clear land, not selectively harvest to improve the lot for the future.” (NSDNR Associate Deputy Director Deputy Minister Allan Eddy in The Coast (April 16, 2016))
Eddy’s transfer out of NSDNR was considered part of a A welcome change in NSDNR bureaucracy (Post Dec 3, 2016).
It seems Mr. Eddy has not lost his interest in biomass. I am wondering if, in his position with Agriculture, he became convinced that it is better to grow switchgrass on unused farmland for biomass products than to clearcut forests?
Or can we expect to see him once again on the forest biomass/clearcut Nova Scotia front, especially given that he is now Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives (Finance and Treasury Board).
Expenses for Julie Towers (Deputy Minister of Natural Resources) and Frank Dunn (now Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and Aquaculture, formerly deputy minister of Natural Resources) are also shown. Allan and Frank alternated on seafood expositions. Julie Towers spent quite a bit of time with Miners, so ‘wonder if anything is up on that front. (Gossip, best ignored!)
Stay tuned. Deputy Ministers and the like, even if they came from industry, don’t disappear but switch departments as I inadvertently discovered is well illustrated by the movement of Mr. Eddy between three departments within one year. It seems they rarely go to or back to the private sector, at least not for their day jobs.
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Thank the stars that biofuels and the like have not lifted off in Nova Scotia, despite the NDP and Liberal governments and the feds sinking several million bucks into it for Nova Scotia. But it won’t die with flag wavers like Mr. Eddy still firmly in government and an abundance of “low quality wood” on the Nova Scotian landscape. We can only pray that the Independent Review of Forest Practices in Nova Scotia doesn’t come out in support of it.
Some links to illustrate the history of biofuels in NS:
Cellufuel “pauses” operations at its Brooklyn demonstration plant
Tim Bousquet in Halifax Examiner, Jul 28, 2017 “The start-up biofuel company has received at least $4.5 million in public money; the shut-down is temporary and just part how “innovation” works, insists president Chris Hooper.”
Halifax’s CelluFuel secures $5m to build plant
Chronicle Herald, Sep 8, 2014
Cellufuel looking forward to moving into Bowater site
NovaNewsNow.com, Feb 11, 2014
Cellufuel gets half million federal loan; company plans to expand into Clare
Yarmouth Co. Vanguard Mar 21, 2014
Nova Scotia’s Biorefinery Plan cites full-tree harvesting, other requirements to make it competitive
Post on nsforestnotes.ca Feb 22, 2017. Senior DNR company men including Allan Eddy “directly involved”.
Innovation Hub Makes First Year Progress
NSDNR Press Release Jan 26, 2017. “A new study shows Nova Scotia has strong potential to develop an innovative biorefinery that produces an alternative fuel from renewable sources of fibre.”
Progress Report did not highlight key priorities in NSDNR Business Plan
Post on nsforestnotes.ca, Sep 2, 2016
Bio-based fuels from our forests?
Post on nsforestnotes.ca, Jul 7, 2016