Still concerned
Stakeholders urge province to reject Northern Pulp effluent plan.
PICTOU — Several groups have rejected Northern Pulp’s Focus Report and want the Nova Scotia minister of environment to do the same.
“Northern Pulp has not provided the minister of environment with adequate information to determine that the project can be carried out without causing significant lasting harm to the environment and/or human health,” said Friends of the Northumberland Strait president Jill Graham Scanlan, reading a joint statement by FONS, the Town of Pictou, Pictou Landing First Nation and the Fisherman’s Working Group representing 3,000 fishermen from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I.
Scanlan was speaking at a press conference held in Pictou on Nov. 19
Gordon Wilson, the provincial minister of environment has between now and Dec. 17 to decide whether to approve the mill’s proposed effluent treatment facility which would see treated effluent released into the Northumberland Strait.
Tuesday’s press conference was designed to send the message to Wilson that key stakeholders in the outcome of his decision are not at all satisfied with Northern Pulp’s latest submission for project approval.
A primary concern raised by people opposed to the project is about the effect that effluent would have on the marine environment and on the lucrative Northumberland Strait fishery.
Speaking for the Fisherman’s Working Group, lawyer Jamie Simpson criticized Northern Pulp studies which only looked at potential negative impacts to the environment over a onemonth period.
“Of course, their proposal is to be pumping effluent into the strait for far longer than a month, said Simpson in an interview. “What would it be over six months, or a year, or five years?”
Among the 11 terms of reference which the province has told the mill to address in its Focus Report is the requirement to conduct studies on the potential impact on the fishery.
Colton Cameron, a fisherman who works at the Caribou Wharf in Pictou County told media the project would impact fishing operations, including lobster, herring, rock crab and scallops.
In particular, Cameron pointed to the potential for sea ice to damage the pipe and cause a leak.
“Ice can gouge through the pipe,” Cameron said. “What happens if it breaks?”
The proposed route for the pipeline would cross overland along Highway 106 and over the Town of Pictou’s watershed.
“Clean water is our greatest priority,” said Jim Ryan, mayor of the town of Pictou.
Ryan told reporters that the potential for contamination to the town’s water supply are unacceptable.
“The town’s position is, no pipe in the watershed.”