Nova Scotia pulp mill expected to miss 2020 deadline to close Boat Harbour

A controversial pulp mill in northern Nova Scotia is facing delays with its new wastewater system, making it likely to miss the provincial deadline of January 2020 to stop using a polluted lagoon.

The Northern Pulp mill has been sending untreated effluent to a First Nation reserve for more than half a century, something the province’s former environment minister called one of the worst cases of environmental racism in Canada.

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Under provincial legislation, the kraft pulp mill has less than 15 months to overhaul how it processes wastewater.

Kathy Cloutier, a spokeswoman for Paper Excellence Canada, which owns the Abercrombie Point mill, says the setback is due to a delay with a pipeline.

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She says the new wastewater treatment facility will meet the deadline, but that a new outfall discharge pipe will take longer.

Despite the delays, Cloutier says once the new treatment plant is operational, untreated effluent will no longer leave the mill.