N.S. government releases terms for Northern Pulp's environmental assessment report

Nova Scotia's Environment Department has released the final terms of reference for the environmental assessment report Northern Pulp must complete for its proposed effluent treatment facility.

The document, released Tuesday, includes a long list of requirements related to details about the project, environmental monitoring, potential environmental impacts of the project, mitigation and monitoring efforts related to those impacts as well as a list of potential alternatives.

There is also a requirement for the company to work with the federal government and obtain necessary federal approvals, because some of the project crosses federal property. Northern Pulp has two years to complete the work and submit it to the province.

"This is the final phase that we would have," Environment Minister Gordon Wilson said in an interview Wednesday. "There are no regulatory options beyond an environmental assessment report."

Wilson ordered the report after he deemed a focus report submitted by the company late last year to be lacking in the necessary information for him to make a decision.

The company wants to build a treatment facility on its property in Abercrombie Point, N.S., across the harbour from the Town of Pictou. Treated effluent would then move via a 14-kilometre pipeline and eventually be discharged into the Northumberland Strait.

The proposal pitted the First Nations community of Pictou Landing, fishermen, environmentalists and others concerned about the project against people affiliated with the mill and province's forestry industry who feared that without approval, the industry would lose its biggest player and hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs.

The project was made necessary by the Boat Harbour Act, which called for Boat Harbour, the site the mill has used since its inception as a treatment lagoon for its effluent, to be closed to waste as of the end of January 2020. Premier Stephen McNeil's government has referred to the site as one of the province's worst examples of environmental racism.

The company's inability to get approval for its plan back in December, and the subsequent decision by McNeil to uphold the terms of the Boat Harbour Act, left the mill without the ability to treat its effluent, forcing it to shut down.

The company has said it's committed to staying in the province and, in a news release Tuesday, said it is taking time to review the terms of reference for the environmental assessment report.

Despite recent efforts by the provincial government through aid packages and programs, the Nova Scotia forestry industry has seen contraction since the closure of Northern Pulp.

Wilson said the document lays out a clear process for the company to address gaps remaining in its proposal. Once the report has been accepted, Wilson has the option of referring it to an environmental assessment review panel, something he said he would consider. The last time such a panel was convened was for the Goldboro LNG proposal in Guysborough County.

Ultimately, the minister will decide to approve the project with conditions, approve it without conditions, or reject it.