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 […]
“Who speaks for the mainland moose and Canada warbler?” asks judge
Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Christa Brothers will decide whether the Minister of Lands and Forestry has failed to live up to the obligations set out in the Endangered Species Act to protect wildlife in the province. “We seek the Court’s assistance as a last resort,” said lawyer Jamie Simpson, representing the Federation of Nova...
The Archaeology of Loss
How industrial logging in the Mi’kmaq heartland is destroying a lot more than trees
“We were in wonderful moose country now.” At least this is how Albert Bigelow Paine described the Nova Scotia landscape he and three others journeyed through in his 1908 book The Tent Dwellers. The book tells the true story of a June trout fishing trip led by two guides, Charlie Charlton and Del Thomas, who […]
We’ll get around to that climate emergency eventually
Morning File, Thursday March 7, 2019
News 1. Court This is an abbreviated Morning File because I have to be at the Supreme Court at 9am. I’m going to court to join the CBC and the Canadian Press in their efforts to rescind the sealing order in the Glen Assoun case. That order was issued by Justice Chipman on October 23, […]
Northern Pulp’s environmental documents: missing mercury, a pulp mill that never was, and oodles of contradictions
Cover photo: “Point D,” where treated Northern Pulp wastewater currently flows from Boat Harbour into the Northumberland Strait, just a few hundred metres from Pictou Landing First Nation. There is much to wade through in the documents Northern Pulp submitted to Nova Scotia Environment on February 7, 2019, when it registered its “Replacement Effluent Treatment […]
By Any Other Name: Nova Scotia’s Department of Lands and Forestry just made “Clearcuts” disappear
Nova Scotians who signed up to receive proposed harvest plans on Crown land might have noticed some disturbing changes recently. As of a few days ago the maps no longer specify whether a proposed cut is a “clearcut” or not. The word was removed from the legend and the list of harvest prescription types. This […]
Department of Lands and Forestry employees are lobbying the government to delay cleanup of Boat Harbour
Morning File, Friday, January 25, 2019
News 1. Scott Brison Writes Jennifer Henderson: “Being the President of the Treasury Board is a bit like peeing in a dark suit,” chuckles Scott Brison.“It gives you a warm feeling, but nobody notices.” Brison, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Kings-Hants, resigned his Cabinet post a couple of weeks ago and, after 22 years […]
Marlene Brown takes on corporate polluters
Frustrated with provincial inaction over contaminated wells in Harrietsfield, Brown is embarking on an unusual private prosecution of the companies responsible.
The first citizen-led prosecution under Nova Scotia’s Environment Act will proceed in Provincial Court June 13. Judge Gregory Lenihan has ruled there are sufficient grounds to support charges brought by Harrietsfield resident Marlene Brown against two numbered companies and one individual who ran a construction salvage yard known as RDM Recycling since 2002. Brown has...
What the hell is Brendan Maguire talking about? Harrietsfield water announcement lacks details, or even plausibility.
” I just got off the phone with the Premier’s Office.” Halifax Atlantic Liberal candidate Brendan Maguire was close to giddy as he made that statement on a Facebook video Wednesday evening. Maguire went on to promise residents in the Harrietsfield neighbourhood who have spent 10 years fighting for clean water after their wells were contaminated […]
Forcing the government’s hand
Harrietsfield resident Marlene Brown becomes the first Nova Scotian to pursue a private prosecution for environmental damages.
Tomorrow a Harrietsfield woman will become the first citizen in Nova Scotia to lay charges or undertake a “private prosecution” under the Environment Act against two individuals and two numbered companies. Both companies are no longer active, but one of them was in the stable of the Municipal Group, which also owns Dexter Construction. The private prosecution...