By Canadian Press

Nova Scotia to rule on mill’s plan to pump effluent into Northumberland Strait

Dec 17, 2019 | 1:15 AM

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s environment minister is expected to release his decision today on a pulp mill’s controversial proposal to pump 85 million litres of treated effluent daily into the Northumberland Strait.

Gordon Wilson will rule on a focus report Northern Pulp submitted to the provincial Environment Department in early October on its plan for a proposed effluent treatment plant and 15-kilometre pipeline near Pictou, N.S.

The department asked the company for the report in March after then environment minister Margaret Miller determined more information was needed about the project’s impacts.

If Wilson approves the project, it will likely spark an outcry from opponents, including the Pictou Landing First Nation, environmental groups and fishermen from across the Maritimes.

However, if the minister rejects the company plan, Northern Pulp has said it will close the mill — putting more than 300 employees out of work and creating indirect job losses in the province’s forestry sector.

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Complicating matters is a Jan. 31, 2020 deadline, set in provincial legislation, for the company to stop sending its effluent to a facility in Boat Harbour, near the Pictou Landing First Nation.

Wilson’s decision comes on the heels of an announcement Monday by federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson that Northern Pulp’s proposal will not undergo a federal impact assessment.

Wilkinson said a number of “outstanding questions and information gaps” in the proposal regarding the impact of effluent would be answered through the provincial environmental assessment.

When it asked the company for the additional focus report, the province said it needed outstanding questions addressed in relation to the route of the pipeline and its potential environmental effects, including the impacts on marine life and the town of Pictou’s water supply.

If the province approves the plan for the new facility and pipeline, the Jan. 31 deadline to stop dumping in Boat Harbour would likely have to be extended.

The 2015 Boat Harbour Act, which contains the deadline, was seen as a key government commitment to the Pictou Landing First Nation to clean up the treatment lagoon on its doorstep.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 17, 2019.

The Canadian Press