With A PC Victory In N.S., What Happens Now At Northern Pulp?
HALIFAX — Last week, Tim Houston and the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia scored a huge election victory, and will now wield considerable decision-making power with a majority government.
Many are wondering how a PC government will shape the most pressing issues facing the province.
One of those issues is Paper Excellence’s push to reopen its Northern Pulp mill in Pictou. The mill has been shuttered since January 2020 when Paper Excellence missed a deadline to complete a report for an environmental assessment.
What Houston Is Saying By Not Saying
Over the past few months, Houston has tiptoed around Northern Pulp-related questions.
Before the election, Friends Of The Northumberland Strait asked each party about their stance on the mill. Neither Houston nor the PC party responded.
Meanwhile, at a press conference the day after his election win, Houston sidestepped a question about his support for reopening the mill.
He acknowledged the mill has been a “divisive issue” in Nova Scotia, especially in Pictou, but didn’t say whether he supported it reopening.
He said the role of the government should be to “set the standard” for an environmental assessment and then get out of the way.
“Government sets the standard, government sets the process to determine whether or not the standard has been met,” he said. “It’s not for a politician to pre-suppose how that process unfolds.”
Jeff Bishop is the executive director of Forestry Nova Scotia.
He told Huddle Houston’s careful language seems to be a signal his government is on board with the mill reopening: if Northern Pulp can meet the appropriate environmental standards, Houston won’t intervene.
“To me, that’s fair… and so we’re hopeful that there’s a potential for [Northern Pulp], should they still be interested in reopening the mill, there’s a process there for them,” Bishop said.
Will There Be ‘Political Interference’?
Pictou mayor Jim Ryan has been an outspoken critic of Northern Pulp and its plans to dump treated effluent into Pictou Harbour. He argues the government has more agency than Houston is letting on when it comes to the environmental assessment process.
Houston has said government will set the standard for an environmental assessment. Ryan argues Nova Scotia Environment should consider Northern Pulp’s history when assessing the company’s plans.
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“Past performance by the applicant in environmental protection and response should be an ‘enormous’ consideration in setting those standards,” he wrote in an email to Huddle.
Meanwhile, environmental advocates remain cautious about the future of the mill under a PC government, suggesting there’s no guarantee it will reopen.
Jill Graham-Scanlan is the president of Friends Of The Northumberland Strait. She pointed out the PCs ran on a healthcare agenda and she argued a shuttered Northern Pulp helps advance those goals.
“We are supportive of [Houston’s] platform to strengthen the health of Nova Scotians and we see [keeping Northern Pulp closed] as a very obvious way to achieve that,” she says.
Graham-Scanlan also points out Houston has promised “the science will rule the day” when it comes to a decision on Northern Pulp. She believes as long as there’s no “political interference” the environmental assessment process will ensure Northern Pulp remains closed.
“We will remain optimistic and trusting that Tim Houston and his government will follow the legislation and hope that they follow through with their promises to do that,” she said.
“Regulation is a different beast in that its application can either promote adherence to strict standards or minimize the need to do so. Strong regulation is necessary and will support good policy,” Ryan added.
The Stakes
Both Ryan and Graham-Scanlan claim air quality has improved significantly in the Pictou area since Northern Pulp shut down. Evidence of this is completely anecdotal, but many in the community insist the change is significant.
Bishop, meanwhile, says the mill’s closure has put significant strain on the province’s forestry sector and argues things are poised to get worse.
Northern Pulp processed as much as 90 percent of the byproducts created when mills turn trees into lumber. Those byproducts are a significant part of the value for woodlot owners, so not having a place to sell them has hurt.
Bishop says the high price of lumber brought on by the pandemic has cushioned the impact. But he warns those market forces have only “kept the wolves at bay for a while.”
Many woodlot owners have not found another place to sell their byproducts, and are either stockpiling them or putting off their harvest. But Bishop says they can only keep that up for so long.
Once they can’t, things will get much worse for Nova Scotia’s forestry sector.