Wednesday afternoon at 3:59 PM an email landed in my inbox. It was from Nova Scotia Environment and it was short, even terse: Environment Minister Gordon Wilson has issued a ministerial order to govern how Northern Pulp must conduct its orderly shutdown of the mill, today, Jan. 29. The ministerial order and terms and conditions […]
“The province has in effect decided that it is not going to fully enforce the Boat Harbour Act”
Northern Pulp is "winterizing" its mill, which means that while waste from the pulping process will not flow into Boat Harbour after Jan. 31, wastewater from the mill's power boiler will, at least until April 30. Premier Stephen McNeil says this plan will help speed up the cleanup of Boat Harbour; Pictou Landing First Nations Chief Andrea Paul says she is "very frustrated."
Premier Stephen McNeil made himself available to take questions from reporters about the future of the Northern Pulp mill and Boat Harbour at 12:30 today, less than an hour after Pictou Landing First Nation issued a press release stating that PLFN “has not agreed to allow Northern Pulp to keep using the Boat Harbour treatment […]
Northern Pulp, past and future: It ain’t over till it’s over
On December 20, 2019 Premier Stephen McNeil announced that the province would be respecting the Boat Harbour Act, and that Northern Pulp would have to stop pumping its effluent into the Boat Harbour treatment facility on January 31, 2020. Without the use of Boat Harbour, the Northern Pulp mill in Pictou County would have no […]
What it all means: the closure of Northern Pulp Mill, the future of forestry, and an act of reconciliation
“The Boat Harbour Act will be enforced as of January 31, 2020,” announced Premier Stephen McNeil this morning. “Northern Pulp will be ordered to stop pumping effluent into Boat Harbour. And let me be clear: there will be no extension.“ With that, McNeil upheld his promise to the Pictou Landing First Nation that Boat Harbour […]
The Northern Pulp saga is a “really, really, really, really difficult time” for Pictou Landing First Nation
Morning File, Friday, December 20, 2019
News 1. A “really, really, really, really difficult time” Joan Baxter wrote this item. About 300 people gathered yesterday in the school gymnasium at Pictou Landing First Nation for a rally to support the Boat Harbour Act. That legislation, passed in 2015 by Premier Stephen McNeil’s Liberal government with support of the Progressive Conservatives and NDP, […]
Here’s what Nova Scotia’s cabinet ministers had to say today
Northern Pulp Environment Minister Gordon Wilson says he has read all 3,000 pages and “about eight binders worth” of submissions related to whether he should approve a new effluent treatment plant proposed by Northern Pulp. The new plant would replace the Boat Harbour facility which by law is scheduled to close January 31, 2020. The...
Central Nova MP Sean Fraser: Don’t change Boat Harbour Act
Even if Northern Pulp’s controversial new effluent treatment plant gets the green light from the Nova Scotia Department of Environment next month — a decision less likely after concerns voiced to the province by five federal departments have been made public — it looks next to impossible for the replacement for Boat Harbour to proceed […]
Northern Pulp’s “political game”
It's decision time for the Nova Scotia government. It will either approve a pipeline for pumping mill effluent into the Northumberland Strait, or won't. And it will either extend the Boat Harbour Act, or won't. Those affected by the mill operation are laying out their case and preparing next moves.
The story of the bleached kraft pulp mill in Pictou County, which has already dragged on for 53 years, is coming to a nail-biting climax. How — and when — it’s going to end is anyone’s guess. Time is running out, and two key dates loom. The first is December 17, 2019, which is the […]
The Centre Plan is a colossal waste of time, money, public attention, newsprint, and reporter energy
Morning File, Wednesday, September 18, 2019
News 1. Centre Plan A public hearing on the Centre Plan was held at City Hall yesterday, and lasted well into the night. Council will debate the various issues and presumably vote to enact the package later today. I’ve never seen such a colossal waste of time, money, public attention, newsprint, and reporter energy devoted […]
Northern Pulp Mill’s missing environmental data
The mill says its effluent comfortably meets federal regulations, but a new study published by Dalhousie researchers suggests there is no way to know.
Cover photo courtesy Gerard James Halfyard. If Premier Stephen McNeil is wavering on the Northern Pulp / Paper Excellence file, entertaining notions on amending the Boat Harbour Act so that effluent from the Pictou County pulp mill can continue to flow into the lagoon after January 31, 2020, he would do well to put off […]