Environment Department investigating Northern Pulp emissions tests

The province’s Department of Environment is currently investigating the most recent emission tests from a local pulp mill.

Although the test results from Northern Pulp’s June emission tests were not released by the province, a government spokeswoman confirmed that the company has had compliance problems in the past.

“Any time a company does not comply with our regulations, we take it very seriously,” said Chrissy Matheson, media relations adviser with the Department of Environment. “

There is currently an active investigation underway by NSE related to the June stack tests at Northern Pulp. Therefore, we can’t share details at this time. The investigation remains underway, so there have been no corrective orders to date.”

She said the Nova Scotia Environment’s enforcement division has been working very closely with Northern Pulp to bring them into compliance with requirements in their industrial approval. Their approval limit for particulate matter must be 150 mg/Rm3 or below. The following is the enforcement and compliance activity for the past three years.

On March 10-11, 2015: the power boiler tested at 155/Rm3. The department issued a directive and a warning report and the mill came into compliance.

On July 23-24, 2015: the power boiler tested at 148 and was in compliance.

On September 15-18, 2015: the power boiler tested at 190. A directive was issued and the mill came back into compliance.

On November 17-18, 2015: the power boiler tested at 111 and was in compliance.

On March 8-10, 2016: the power boiler was tested at 123 and was in compliance.

On June 8-9, 2016 the power boiler was tested at 164. A Summary Offence Ticket was issued (valued at $697.50).

On August 23-24, 2016: the power boiler was tested again with a result of 136. It was discovered that there were some technical difficulties during the June and August tests, that were immediately addressed. The SOT for June was retracted because of this.

On Dec 14-16, 2016: the power boiler was tested at 157. A directive and warning were issued and the mill came into compliance.

On March 14-15, 2017: the power boiler tested at 113 and was in compliance.

Kathy Cloutier, communications director for Northern Pulp said the results are a “disappointing step back” for the mill but one must recognize that improvements have been made.

“It is important to recognize that emission improvements mill-wide have been reduced by over 80 per cent since the commissioning and continued reliable operation of the recovery boiler precipitator, which has far larger discharge volume compared to the power boiler,” she said. “We continue to investigate all avenues that may be contributing to the fluctuating results.”

She said recent activities include having North American boiler experts on site conducting a full audit of scrubber operations. The recommendations stemming from this audit are now under review; some of which have already been implemented.