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Thomas believes the province can meet the 2030 deadline and is simply resting on its laurels after making previous gains that made it a national leader in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

In fact, when it signed an agreement in principle for an equivalency agreement in 2016, it was a recognition the province had already met Canada’s target of a 30-per-cent reduction in emissions from 2005 by 2030.

Thomas said it’s time Nova Scotia set an actual date for the phase out of coal and he called for governments and industry to better collaborate towards that goal.

He praised the recent move by the four Atlantic provinces and the federal government to explore transmission and local renewable electricity options across the region.

Thomas believes there is still more room for the development of wind and solar power, along with energy efficiency initiatives.

“The bottom line is we have a lot of options and that wasn’t always true,” he said. “It’s reasonable if we take a little bit longer than 2030 to make sure that we get everything right … but there’s no reason why Nova Scotia has to be burning coal into 2040 and beyond.”

Thomas also said coal should be eliminated because of health concerns, pointing out a federal analysis suggesting a phase-out by 2030 would avoid 89 premature deaths, 8,000 asthma episodes and 58,000 days of breathing difficulty in Nova Scotia.

However, a provincial Environment Department official said there are currently no plans to set a hard date for eliminating coal. Nova Scotia Power planning documents have previously projected that coal would continue to play some part in its energy mix until 2042.