Pictou County residents split on Northern Pulp mill

A public consultation carried out by Northern Pulp in Pictou County concludes residents are split on their feelings towards the mill.

The province required the company to seek community feedback and file that report with the Department of Environment.

The department is considering under what conditions, if any, the mill should receive a new approval to operate after its five-year licence expires this January.

Last month Northern Pulp held two open houses and received 172 written submissions.

The report found 45 per cent of people are fed up with  the mill continuing to pollute the air at a level that exceeds environmental regulations.

"We know we have to improve our environmental performance and we are committed to doing so," says Terri Fraser, the technical manager of operations at the Northern Pulp mill in Abercrombie.

"We understand the frustration of the public and the perceived inaction by both parties, the mill and the Nova Scotia Department of Environment. But we also had a great back-and-forth with the public and I think they understand the size of our  project with regards to the precipitator and the timelines we are required to install it."

Northern Pulp says it could be May before that new pollution control equipment is fully installed and the company achieves full compliance with environmental rules. Meanwhile, Fraser says the company is doing what it can to reduce emissions.

Economic, environmental concerns

"We have made improvements during the mill shutdown [this fall]," said Fraser. "We are waiting to get our stack test results from mid-October and hoping for improvement."

The company hired to write the report, Conestoga-Rovers & Associates, noted there's a lot of concern around environmental issues such as air quality (about 42 per cent of all submissions) as well as the mill's economic benefits that include 300 direct jobs at the mill and 1,700 indirect jobs in the woods (52 per cent of all submissions).

Despite that, the report said very few people took a stand on whether the mill's environmental performance should be the determining factor on if  it closes or remains open. 

The report says four overarching themes emerged as a result of the public consultation:

1. Long-standing frustration: While many residents of Pictou County are concerned with environmental quality and potential health effects, the underlying frustration appears to be with a perception of inaction by both Northern Pulp and Nova Scotia Department of Environment related to these concerns.
2. Need for equitable balance: Many of the respondents cited the importance and interdependence of a healthy environment and a healthy economy; while some provided specific recommendations or positions, most called upon Northern Pulp and the Department of Environment to use their expertise to achieve both goals.
3. Desire for reliable and transparent compliance: There was a clear call to Departmetn of Environment to develop a clear and step-wise process in the Industrial Approval Renewal for Northern Pulp to achieve compliance that is based on sound ecological and health-based standards with fair consequences associated with non-compliance.
4. Desire for demonstrated corporate commitment: There was a clear call to Northern Pulp to develop an articulate plan to achieve compliance and a transparent and consistent community engagement method to communicate to the residents of Pictou County as a proactive and responsible corporate citizen.

Northern Pulp says as a result of this consultation, it is now committed to ongoing dialogue with citizens and elected representatives in Pictou County.

Northern Pulp said it tried but couldn't schedule a meeting with the chief of the Pictou Landing First Nation. That's where the mill sends its wastewater to the provincially-owned Boat Harbour treatment facility, overdue for cleanup.  

The company says although it has "a role" to play in whatever plan the province comes up with to dispose of effluent  in the future,  the mill is not the only stakeholder when it comes to dealing with 40 years of contamination at that site.