The Municipality of the District of Lunenburg is urging Premier Stephen McNeil for an immediate extension of the Boat Harbour Act deadline.
Northern Pulp’s waste effluent treatment plant must close by January 2020, despite several requests by the mill for an extension.
The municipality will write to the premier to seek more time for Northern Pulp to complete a new treatment plant and pipeline while continuing to conduct required studies and obtaining environmental approvals.
Mayor Carolyn Bolivar-Getson says this is not a Pictou County problem but a provincial issue.
“This has the capacity to close down every mill in Lunenburg County and Southwest Nova. Without the availability to be able to sell that byproduct to Northern Pulp, it is taking the profit out of the lumber industry. They need to be able to move this product somewhere and this is the only option that they have at this point.”
A group of 10 local individuals in the forestry sector approached the municipality with concerns regarding the potential closure of the Northern Pulp Mill.
Lunenburg, Queens, Shelburne and Yarmouth counties produce 13% of wood harvested in Nova Scotia.
Bolivar-Getson says if Northern Pulp closes, it will create a ripple effect in Lunenburg County and Southwest Nova.
“And, it is not only the lumber industry. You need to look at the trucking industry, you need to look at the mechanics who work on these trucks, the fuel that they burn, the livelihood that this creates to a lot of people in our municipality. This is thousands of jobs.”
In an email statement to our news room, a spokesperson from the premier’s office says:
“Northern Pulp must submit additional information via a Focus Report to the Minister of Environment in order for him to make a decision whether to accept or reject the company’s new effluent treatment project proposal through the Environmental Assessment process. At this point, they have not submitted this information yet. We want to see the Boat Harbour facility close and a new, modern system to take its place. Our primary focus right now is seeing a project from the company that can meet the province’s environmental standards and regulations.”
