29 July 2005.

The Honourable Cecil Clarke
Minister of Energy
Nova Scotia Department of Energy
Bank of Montreal Building, Suite 400
5151 George Street
P.O. Box 2664
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3J 3P7

Dear Mr. Clarke,

Re: Securing our energy future? A review of Nova Scotia's energy sector in 2004

Earlier this week, you responded to the above report, published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, in a number of Nova Scotian media outlets, notably the CBC, the Chronicle-Herald, and the Daily News.

In your interviews, you made a number of claims, including that the report is "extremely deficient, uninformed, and irresponsible", that "you could drive a freight train through his report", and that with respect to energy efficiency and conservation, the report "missed the boat".

Such claims would be useful and constructive if you could provide specific explanations as to what in the report you find "extremely deficient, uninformed and premature", where in the report "you could drive a freight train through", and in what ways the report "missed the boat".

You also referred to the fact that the report did not reflect recent developments in the offshore. This should not have been surprising, given that the report was for 2004 (as clearly stated in the title), not 2005. We will be reviewing 2005 next year, when data for 2005 is available.

Finally, you state that your government has been working on a plan for climate change and will be releasing a green plan in the coming weeks.

We look forward to seeing your "green plan" and engaging you in an informed, intelligent, and constructive public debate over its contents.

Yours sincerely,

Larry Hughes, PhD Professor Electrical and Computer Engineering Dalhousie University

John Jacobs Director Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - Nova Scotia