The clock has started on the environmental assessment process for Northern Pulp's proposal to restart its beleaguered pulp and paper mill in Nova Scotia's Pictou County. Last week, the company filed a registration document with the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change, and on Tuesday the department formally registered the project. Now begins the process of a Class 2 environmental assessment — the more rigorous of the province's two environmental assessment options.
A Mi’kmaq community’s fears of toxic water recede as Northern Pulp mill winds down
For decades, Pictou Landing First Nation has lived uneasily near an industrial plant emitting brown, foul-smelling waste and the effluent treatment facility they say causes respiratory and skin illnesses. Now, the mill is being mothballed. Ms. Francis, a member of Pictou Landing First Nation, fought for years to stop toxic wastewater from the Northern Pulp plant from being pumped into a tidal estuary next to her community. After decades of court battles, environmental studies and protests, people on the Nova Scotia reserve are hopeful they may one day be able trust their water and land again.