A balanced decision on Northern Pulp

There is no shortage of opinion and concern about the future of Northern Pulp and the cleanup of Boat Harbour (Nova Scotia) — and with that comes a lot of misinformation.

I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

Boat Harbour will be cleaned up. There will be a comprehensive, science-based review conducted to assess Northern Pulp’s proposal to build a new effluent treatment facility as part of its mill operations in Abercrombie.

These two commitments are carved in stone and I want to be clear about their meaning.

First, my pledge to the people of Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), and to Chief Andrea Paul, will be honoured. Northern Pulp will stop pumping effluent into Boat Harbour, and that body of water will be restored as a tidal estuary.

In May of this year, the federal government advanced the cleanup process by announcing a $100-million contribution to the cleanup of Boat Harbour, which is estimated to cost $217 million in total. The government of Nova Scotia will provide additional funding to ensure this job is done right.

The cleanup of Boat Harbour can take place only after a federal environmental assessment, which is expected to be completed sometime in 2021.

Unfortunately, the cleanup cannot begin before the current state of the environment is described in the environmental assessment, and the scope of the cleanup project is fully understood.

Understandably, this will feel like yet another delay to the people of Pictou Landing, who have been waiting decades for their once pristine estuary to be cleaned up.

Earlier this year, Northern Pulp made a submission to the regulator — Nova Scotia Environment — which was incomplete in describing the environmental impacts of the proposed new treatment plant.

The regulator sent the submission back to the company, telling Northern Pulp it had not provided enough science-based evidence to enable a proper environmental assessment to proceed. The regulator put the company back to work to do the job right. The company is now in the process of completing a focus report, which should be submitted in the coming days.

Our government believes that Northern Pulp and its owners now understand that filing a science-based report on a proposed new effluent treatment facility is a necessary requirement for continued operations of the mill.

As premier, I am encouraged by the efforts the company is making to complete a sciencebased focus report.

Once the report is made public, all Nova Scotians will have 30 days to provide feedback on its merits.

I appreciate that the debate over the future of the mill has been passionate. Fishers want to ensure that any effluent released into the Northumberland Strait will not harm habitat or stocks. Mill and forestry workers are deeply concerned about the hundreds of jobs which depend on Northern Pulp’s operations.

That said, the final decision on whether the new effluent treatment facility gets the goahead must be based on science and reason. With that in mind, we invite feedback on Northern Pulp’s focus report that zeroes in on science and environmental impacts.

It will be Nova Scotia Environment’s job, as regulator, to complete a science-based environmental assessment of the Northern Pulp report and feedback from the public, and to make a recommendation to Environment Minister Gordon Wilson.

I want to stress that any decision will reflect a commitment to a cleaner environment — a commitment already evident in the transition to renewable forms of power generation, in the delivery of energy-efficient programs to homes and businesses through Efficiency Nova Scotia, and in the effort to consult Nova Scotians on an updated Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act which establishes clear objectives for the next decade.

Ultimately, any decisions on Northern Pulp will reflect the spirit of this Act. This means weighing economic interests and environmental impacts in a way that respects both and neglects neither. For this government, environmental integrity and economic growth must be connected hand-in-hand, not fist-to-fist.