GOLDBORO — Irish renewable fuels company Simply Blue Group will announce long-awaited details of a planned renewable fuels project at its launch event next week in Goldboro.
Set for Saturday, Sept. 14 at the community’s interpretive centre, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., following a press conference in Halifax on Friday, Sept. 13 – the event promises an “outdoor carnival for family fun” including bouncy castles, games, prizes, cotton candy, popcorn, balloons and “fun for the whole family,” according to Stakeholder Engagement Lead (sustainable fuels) Megan Harris.
“We hope to introduce the project and start collecting feedback so that we can gain insight into how this project can best fit into the communities,” she told The Journal in an email last week, reiterating the company’s public notice that invites residents to “learn more about Nova Scotia’s new sustainable fuels project and to meet our team.”
In her email, Harris said, “Our co-founder and CEO Hugh Kelly, and our director of hydrogen and sustainable fuels Michael Galvin will be coming from our Irish headquarters to meet with community members... There are no time-specific events planned... Project information (poster boards, project brochure, staff, etc.) will be set up in a very similar way to other open houses/information sessions hosted in the community.”
While further details were not forthcoming, Harris spoke about Simply Blue’s priorities – including plans to produce “sustainable aviation fuel” and bio-methanol at a proposed “renewal energy park” at a then-to-be-announced location on the Eastern Shore – at Strait of Canso Superport Days in June.
Noting that sustainable aviation fuel matches the performance of conventional jet fuel – but doesn’t require new infrastructure, and would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 91 per cent – she said Nova Scotia can supply the “excellent winds” and biomass that would be needed for such a project.
“We are going to be using some of that [biomass] sustainably... harvested from locally managed forests and by-products of existing sawmills,” she said at the time. “We will not be cutting down any trees for our project; we will be using biomass that already exists.... It’s going to provide stable jobs to the forestry industry in Nova Scotia.”
In a short emailed statement to The Journal last week, MODG Warden Vernon Pitts said, “Our council has had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the Simply Blue Group and are impressed [with] the company, itself, as well as [with] those who represent [it] and their proposal for Nova Scotia and the MODG. We look forward to hearing what they have to say on the 14th [of Sept.] and we also look forward to seeing the engagement between the company and our community residents.”
Harris noted a hot lunch will be served throughout the event.
