Mill's end may be nigh: experts

Two political experts are predicting that Northern Pulp will likely close after Environment Minister Gordon Wilson failed to give the go-ahead on the company’s proposed effluent treatment plant on Tuesday.

The minister rejected the Pictou County mill’s focus report on the basis that it lacked science-based information to properly address potential risks to “air, water, fish and human health.” He imposed a nearly impossible demand on the company to have a new treatment facility in place and to stop pumping effluent into Boat Harbour by Feb 1. In a little over a month, it must file an environmental assessment report to the department that addresses the shortcoming of the focus report.

The move by the province likely symbolizes the end for Northern Pulp, say Howard Ramos, a Dalhousie University political sociologist, and Wayne MacKay, a Dalhousie University law professor and expert in public policy.

“It’s clear that the McNeil government has decided that environmental concerns are a priority in this case,” said Ramos. “McNeil has made statements in the past that the mill would have

to do a better job dealing with the effluent and that there were hard deadlines to be met.

“The McNeil government is showing that Nova Scotia has to develop a more sustainable resource sector and that this is the prime concern that seems to be driving home here.”

Wilson, who waited until the final day of the review process to make his decision, would not comment on whether the Boat Harbour Act would be extended beyond Jan. 31 as the mill has been lobbying for. The minister told reporters that the Act is outside his jurisdiction. The premier, who has maintained that deadline would remain unchanged, was unavailable for comment, although his spokesman said he would speak to reporters on Wednesday.

Though McNeil took heat from opposition members for not reaffirming his stance, Ramos was more forgiving.

"If he's there he'll face criticism, if he's not there he'll face criticism because it's a very contentious issue not only that Nova Scotia has wrestled with but also the rest of the country as we transition from a resource extraction economy to more sustainable economies."

He said what's more important is that the premier comes up with a plan that transitions hundreds of mill workers and others employed in the sector into more sustainable jobs.

His colleague Prof. MacKay agrees that the province is facing a serious industry transition. But the law professor argues that the premier owed it to the province to say as much on Tuesday and to reaffirm his commitment to the Boat Harbour Act.

“It's quite surprising given how important the minister's decision is to Nova Scotians generally and a very big decision for the people of Pictou County," said MacKay. “It's unfortunate that they have not heard from their premier as to what his understanding of this important development is.”

By imposing another environmental review on the mill at the final hour the province has in effect taken the step to close the mill, said MacKay. The mill has been clear that an extension to the Boat Harbour deadline is needed for it to remain open. MacKay said there's plenty of blame to go around. The mill had five years to meet Department of Environment expectations but the province could have been clearer in its expectations, said MacKay.

“There's a conflict here where the province is both funding and supporting the mill but on the other hand is the regulator who is to decide the fate of the mill. Given that conflict, they have not been as clear as they should have been in the kind of scientific evidence they required."

NDP Leader Gary Burrill, who's calling on the premier to honour the Act, said both the province and the mill have been incompetent in the process. "If this level of information has been lacking as the Department of Environment says today, plainly that was apparent before this week. Plainly it was apparent weeks ago, it was apparent months ago."

He called the province's failure to account for the quickly approaching Boat Harbour deadline "grotesquely inconsiderate of the thousands whose lives and investments and whose communities are on the line over the Jan. 31 deadline.

"For any member of the cabinet or the government to speak of this as though it were not their responsibility and concern, it is utterly their responsibility and it is contemptuous of the public interest to turn aside and fail to take responsibility to address the matter."

Tory Leader Tim Houston, who's also against extending the Boat Harbour Act, said that the mill ought to have faced a more rigorous environmental assessment from the beginning and the federal government ought to have been a part of the formal process.

"This is an extremely important decision and I can see why the premier is struggling with it (because) there is a lot at stake," said Houston.

"This is why, from the beginning, I called for timelines and milestones to be included in the Boat Harbour Act. I have always believed that a higher level of assessment was necessary, and I'm glad that's now being done because the concerns raised by scientists from five federal departments can't just be dismissed."

Jeff Bishop, executive director for Forest Nova Scotia, was hopeful that the mill's proposal would be approved. He said the industry would be coping with more anxiety "as we look to see what the process is going to mean to everybody." The prospect of the mill closing is not something the industry wants to confront, he said.

"It's the worse case to people in our sector, from landowners to harvesting and trucking contractors, to sawmills across the province,” said Bishop.