Group wants help to build Sussex gas plant

An economic development group from Kings County is asking the province to support its plan for an energy park that would house a natural gas facility.

Enterprise Fundy wants to build it in Sussex and power it with low-cost natural gas, which would come from the nearby McCully field being developed by Corridor Resources.

• FROM MARCH 31, 2009: Sussex gas driller targets U.S. market

The economic development group hopes the natural gas facility would attract industries that require large amounts of energy.

"We see the natural gas being used in an energy park, in the Penobsquis area, basically over top of the resource itself, to reduce the costs," said Brian Reed, chair of Enterprise Fundy.

Frank Tenhave, executive director of Enterprise Fundy, said the group needs the province's help to get the energy park off the ground.

"We have no funds of our own," said Tenhave, "and while we put a lot of effort into developing the concept and the idea and the opportunity, we don't have the resources to make it happen."

Rob Moir, an economics professor at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, said that while there may be a shortage of funds to get the project going, there is no shortage of gas.

"There's so much gas there we couldn't use all of [it] ourselves," he said. "But some of the gas could be used to generate electricity, much cleaner than coal."