Paper Excellence is on a desperate charm offensive in Nova Scotia, trying to build “trust,” get support to refit and re-open its Pictou County Northern Pulp mill, make people believe that the company has somehow transformed itself overnight, and convince us all to forget its many egregious environmental, social, and political transgressions and bullying tactics. […]
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...
“Today is a great day! A’SE’K Day!”
The Northern Pulp mill stops dumping effluent into Boat Harbour today, and the pipeline will be sealed tomorrow.
Pictou Landing First Nation Chief Andrea Paul is calling today “A’se’K Day.” Although the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented PLFN and allies from gathering to celebrate the occasion, it is a momentous one. A January 29 ministerial order from Environment Minister Gordon Wilson stipulated that by April 30, 2020 the Northern Pulp mill on Abercrombie Point […]
The province issues tough new orders to Northern Pulp
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 […]
Northern Pulp takes province to court: The saga continues
The unfolding saga of the 53-year-old Pictou County pulp mill operated by Northern Pulp Nova Scotia — a Paper Excellence company that is part of the corporate empire of the billionaire Widjaja family of Indonesia — continues to get “curiouser and curiouser” as Alice in Wonderland once remarked.
Yesterday afternoon, Northern Pulp issued a news release stating it will ask the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia to undertake a judicial review of the Nova Scotia Environment Minister Gordon Wilson’s December 17, 2019 decision requiring the company to submit a full environmental assessment report before deciding to approve its proposed effluent treatment facility to […]
“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 […]
The Transportation Safety Board doesn’t want you to hear the Cockpit Voice Recording of Flight 624
Morning File, Wednesday, January 8, 2020
News 1. Weather There’s weather today. A lot of schools, businesses, and governments are closed. Everyone will complain about stuff. 2. Taxes “It’s early in the budget season, but Halifax regional councillors are hoping to keep next year’s tax increase well below inflation,” reports Zane Woodford: Council’s budget committee met Tuesday to work toward creating […]
Another loss for local journalism
Morning File, Tuesday, January 7, 2020
News 1. Blue Mountain–Birch Cove Lakes Tim Bousquet wrote this item. “Environmentalists who celebrated extra cash in last year’s municipal budget for park land protection are worried a reduced budget for next year means the city is again forgetting about Blue Mountain–Birch Cove Lakes,” reports Zane Woodford: Halifax regional council is working on the capital […]
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, […]