Last month Forest Nova Scotia, an industry group representing the most powerful shapers of forestry policy in this province, spearheaded a propaganda campaign against the Biodiversity Act, which the Liberal government of Iain Rankin had introduced on March 11, calling it legislation that would “preserve and protect Nova Scotia’s unique ecosystems, wild animals, plants, lakes...
The French Connection
People in southern France are battling pollution at a paper mill owned by a corporate behemoth: Paper Excellence Canada, the owner of the Northern Pulp Mill in Nova Scotia
They call their association the “Les Flamants Roses du Trébon” or LFRT (Flamingos of Trébon), and it’s a collective of residents in southern France who are fighting to have the six-decades-old Fibre Excellence Tarascon pulp mill in the province of Alpes-Côte d’Azur clean up its environmental act. French media report that the mill is owned […]
Corporate shell game
Northern Pulp seeks protection from creditors in a BC court — and its largest creditor is its owner, Paper Excellence
Northern Pulp — the mill in Pictou County — has gone into hibernation. And Northern Pulp — the company — is “insolvent.” It is one of seven related companies petitioning for creditor protection in the British Columbia Supreme Court, while it seeks “a plan of compromise or arrangement.” The petitioners seeking relief from debt payments, […]
Nova Scotia government doles out $10 million more for Northern Pulp
The effluent pipeline may have been turned off but the provincial money pipeline continues to flow
The Nova Scotian government will be giving Paper Excellence, the parent company of Northern Pulp and a corporation linked to the multi-billionaire Widjaja family of Indonesia, still more millions. This time, the amount is $10 million. Northern Pulp still owes the province $85 million from previous loans. And the company still owes $65 million on...
Northern Pulp says it will continue to operate as a business
Nova Scotians learned two new and startling facts following a meeting of cabinet ministers in Halifax yesterday. Asked if he plans to stay and fight another election, Premier Stephen McNeil said yes, he’s staying. An hour later, Northern Pulp Nova Scotia issued a statement saying it wants to stay in Nova Scotia. The company is...
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 […]
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, […]
Pictou Landing First Nation: “We are sticking to the January 31, 2020 date”
It didn’t take Northern Pulp long to start issuing thinly veiled threats. Just before noon Tuesday, Nova Scotia Environment Minister Gordon Wilson announced that the company that owns the Pictou County pulp mill would have to submit a full environmental assessment report for its new effluent treatment facility. That process that could take two years, […]
No federal assessment will be required for Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent treatment project
Yesterday, four days before his announcement was due on the Northern Pulp effluent treatment proposal, and less than 24 hours before the deadline for the provincial environment minister to announce his decision, federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson released a statement saying that he had “decided not to designate the Northern Pulp project […]
Nova Scotia has a mercury problem
Facilities associated with Northern Pulp Mill's proposed effluent pipe are immediately adjacent to a mercury-contaminated toxic waste site left over from the Canso Chemicals operation
Cover photo: A Mad Tea-Party by Lewis Carroll with the Hatter, March Hare and Alice. It turns out that using a lot of mercury, as human beings have done for centuries — in everything from haberdashery to gold production to medicine — wasn’t such a great idea after all. Although this realization came only in […]