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Northern Pulp is in a polluting league of its own

A new study shows the mill's emissions of some air pollutants greatly exceeded federal reporting thresholds and were often much higher than other mills in Atlantic Canada.

April 11, 2022 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

A new study shows that in spite of the many claims over the years that it was cleaning up its environmental act, and in spite of the $28 million it received in 2011 from the “green transformation program” of Conservative government of Stephen Harper to do so, when it came to air pollution, the Northern […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: air emissions, Air Pollutant Emission Inventory, air pollutants, Atholville mill, Atlantic Canada, British Columbia Supreme Court, Campbellton, carcinogen, Clean Air Act, climate change, coarse particulate matter, Code of Practice for the Management of Air Emissions from Pulp and Paper Facilities, Codey Barnett, Dalhousie University, Daniel Rainham, Emma Hoffman, Environment and Climate Change Canada, fine particulate matter, Gianina Giacosa, green transformation program, greenhouse gases, Hervey Investment, industrial approval, Karla MacFarlance, National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), New Brunswick, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change (NSECC), Paper Excellence, particulate matter, Pictou, Pictou West, Pollutants, pulp mills, Stephen Harper, sulphur dioxide, Tony Walker, Uruguay

Dalhousie researcher breaks silence over pulp mill’s cancer-causing air emissions

March 7, 2019 By Linda Pannozzo 9 Comments

Dalhousie University researcher Emma Hoffman has come forward to defend her 2017 ambient air quality study about cancer-causing air emissions detected near the Northern Pulp mill after finding that her study was “misrepresented” in the mill’s recently registered Environmental Assessment [EA] for its proposed effluent treatment facility.  In Part 3 of the “Dirty Dealing” series, I […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Boat Harbour, Boat Harbour Environmental Advisory Management Committee (BHEAC), Boat Harbour remediation project, Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), Carex Canada, Dr. Judith Guernsey, Emma Hoffman, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Granton NAPS site, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), Northern Pulp environmental assessment, Tony Walker, volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

Forest fairy tales and other frightening stories of Nova Scotia

Morning File, Friday, May 25, 2018

May 25, 2018 By Tim Bousquet and Joan Baxter 11 Comments

News 1. Motor Vehicle Act “The province has put out an open call for input on a new Traffic Safety Act to replace the much-amended and much-maligned Motor Vehicle Act (MVA),” writes Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler: The call-out is remarkably open ended, simply asking people to read over the current MVA and “tell us what […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Aecon Group Inc., Albert Barbusci, Bruce Clarke, China Communications Construction Company, current state and future of forestry industry in Nova Scotia, Dirty Dealing Part 4, Emma Hoffman, Forest Nova Scotia, Halifax council's Transportation Committee, Jeff Bishop, Joan Baxter, Linda Pannozzo, Lu Shaye, Marcus Zwicker, Mary Campbell, ND Forest Notes, Northern Pulp, Paul Vienneau, Port of Sydney Development corp., Quad C, Side guards on trucks, Standing Committee on Resources, Sydney container terminal, Tom Ayers, Tony Walker, Town Clock tender, WestFor, William Mahody

Liberals refuse to allow opposition parties to question bureaucrats responsible for the privacy breach

Morning File, Thursday, April 26, 2018

April 26, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 10 Comments

1. Dirty Dealing, Part 4 Reports Linda Pannozzo: Nova Scotia Lands, a provincial crown corporation charged with cleaning up Boat Harbour, played a role in silencing two Dalhousie University researchers whose work studied air pollution coming from the Northern Pulp mill, the Halifax Examiner has learned. The two researchers, Emma Hoffman and Tony Walker, were the […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Barrington Street bridge ramp, Dirty Dealing Part 4, Emma Hoffman, Erica Butler, Felix Cacchione, Government prevents questioning about the "privacy breach", Jean Laroche, Linda Pannozzo, Michael Gorman, Michael Tutton, MLA Ben Jessome, MLA Brendan Maguire, MLA Gordon Wilson, MLA Hugh MacKay, MLA Suzanne Lohnes-Croft, MLA Tim Houston, Tony Walker

Dirty Dealing

Part 4: Message Control and the Northern Pulp Mill’s Cancer-Causing Air Emissions

April 26, 2018 By Linda Pannozzo 3 Comments

Nova Scotia Lands, a provincial crown corporation charged with cleaning up Boat Harbour, played a role in silencing two Dalhousie University researchers whose work studied air pollution coming from the Northern Pulp mill, the Halifax Examiner has learned. In Part 3 of the Dirty Dealing series, I reported on the researchers’ 2017 ambient air study, which revealed […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, Province House Tagged With: Allan Eddy, ambient air study, Boat Harbour remediation project, boreal felt lichen, Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, Dirty Dealing Part 4, Emma Hoffman, Linda Pannozzo, Marla MacInnis, Northern Pulp emissions, Robert Cameron, Tony Walker, volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

Dirty Dealing

Part 3: Elevated Levels of Cancer-Causing Air Emissions Coming from Abercrombie Pulp Mill, Peer-Reviewed Study Reveals

March 8, 2018 By Linda Pannozzo 4 Comments

In a study published in 2017, Dalhousie University researchers reported that air levels of three volatile organic compounds (VOCs) near the Abercrombie pulp mill in Pictou County exceeded cancer risk thresholds and “are of primary health concern in terms of population risk.” Over an eight-year period (2006-2013), 1,3-butadiene, benzene, and carbon tetrachloride were found to […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Abercrombie Pulp Mill emissions, Boat Harbour Advisory Committee, Boat Harbour remediation project, Chrissy Matheson, Dan Fagin, Dave Gunning, David Boyd, Emma Hoffman, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Environment Canada, Environment Minister Randy Delorey, Erin Brockovich, Granton air monitor, Health Minister Leo Glavine, Joan Baxter, Jong Sung Kim, Judith  Guernsey, Kate Sherren, Ken Swain, Linda Pannozzo, Margaret Miller, National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS), Northern Pulp emissions, Pantelis Andreou, Paul Sobey, Pictou County, Tony Walker, volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

PRICED OUT

A collage of various housing options in HRM, including co-ops, apartment buildings, shelters, and tents
PRICED OUT is the Examiner’s investigative reporting project focused on the housing crisis.

You can learn about the project, including how we’re asking readers to direct our reporting, our published articles, and what we’re working on, on the PRICED OUT homepage.

2020 mass murders

Nine images illustrating the locations, maps, and memorials of the mass shootings

All of the Halifax Examiner’s reporting on the mass murders of April 18/19, 2020, and recent articles on the Mass Casualty Commission and newly-released documents.

Updated regularly.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Two young white women, one with dark hair and one blonde, smile at the camera on a sunny spring day.

Episode 79 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne, is published.

Grace McNutt and Linnea Swinimer are the Minute Women, two Haligonians who host a podcast of the same name about Canadian history as seen through a lens of Heritage Minutes (minutewomenpodcast.ca). In a lively celebration of the show’s second birthday, they stop by to reveal how curling brought them together in podcast — and now BFF — form, their favourite Minutes, that time they thought Jean Chretien was dead, and the impact their show has had. Plus music from brand-new ECMA winners Hillsburn and Zamani.

Listen to the episode here.

Check out some of the past episodes here.

Subscribe to the podcast to get episodes automatically downloaded to your device — there’s a great instructional article here. Email Suzanne for help.

You can reach Tara here.

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Recent posts

  • “I have to live with that, and I’ve lived with that for two-plus years”: emotional testimony about RCMP mistakes during the mass murders May 26, 2022
  • ‘Next thing I know I’m getting tased:’ Nova Scotia Police Review Board hearing into 2019 arrest on Quinpool Road underway May 26, 2022
  • Halifax committee recommends in favour of plan to move, restore, and add to historic Elmwood May 26, 2022
  • Retired Judge Corrine Sparks receives honorary degree from Mount Saint Vincent University May 25, 2022
  • Victims’ families: ‘trauma informed’ inquiry has ‘further traumatized’ us May 25, 2022

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