Government officials in Nova Scotia are staying silent on the cleanup plan for the shuttered Northern Pulp mill site in Pictou County, leaving questions unanswered about whether the public will eventually have to foot the bill.
Environment Minister Tim Halman would only tell reporters after a cabinet meeting on Thursday that, “there are a lot of moving parts,” adding he would have more to say at a future date.
The insolvent mill is under creditor protection and it’s unclear whether any of the $15 million — money that was to be set aside for a closure and cleanup plan under a settlement agreement with the province — will be left over if the company files for bankruptcy.
Halman said he hasn’t seen a cost estimate for a cleanup plan.
“There will be more (information) to come, there will be more to say to Nova Scotians when the time is right,” the minister said.
The mill located in Abercrombie Point, N.S., about 130 kilometres northeast of Halifax, used to produce bleached kraft pulp — an ingredient for paper. Northern Pulp is currently proceeding through a court-supervised sale of its assets as part of a creditor protection process.
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The company took the step after a feasibility study concluded it could not achieve the 14 per cent internal rate of return required in a settlement agreement with the province to develop a bioproducts facility near Liverpool, N.S.
Halman wouldn’t speculate on what would happen to the mill site if the company is declared bankrupt.
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“I’m not going to presuppose,” he said. “Certainly as the regulator my role is to make sure that the Environment Act is being adhered to. It’s a complicated situation and there’s definitely a lot of moving parts to this.”
In a later emailed response, an Environment Department spokeswoman said the creditor protection process has to wrap up before it is determined who is legally responsible for the mill cleanup. Cindy Porter said the reclamation of the site can begin under the Environment Act once closure details are finalized.
“The company is not at the reclamation stage,” Porter said. “At this time, the company and the province are working through the closure plan for the site as required by the courts.”
Interim Liberal leader Derek Mombourquette said Halman needs to start talking to members of the communities near the mill sooner rather than later. Mombourquette pointed out that he’s from a community near the infamous Sydney Tar Ponds — a toxic site left over from years of steel making — which was cleaned up at a cost of more than $400 million.
“That was over a decade ago so that gives you the scale of how big these projects may be and these are things the government should be talking to the community about,” he said.
Northern Pulp has been under creditor protection since closing the mill in June 2020 after it failed to meet provincial environmental requirements for a new effluent treatment plant.
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