Northern Pulp Ponders a Move to Queens County, Say Sources

The mill previously used Boat Harbour, a former tidal estuary by the Pictou Landing First Nation, to treat its waste.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The company that owns the Northern Pulp mill is casting its gaze on Nova Scotia's South Shore as it contemplates its future in the province, multiple sources tell CBC News.

An announcement is expected as soon as Thursday that Paper Excellence will explore the possibility of setting up a mill in Queens County, where famed industrialist Izaak Walton Killam founded the Mersey Paper Company in 1929.

It operated until 2012 when Resolute Forest Products shut down the operation in Brooklyn in the face of financial struggles.

Mayor Darlene Norman of the Region of Queens Municipality declined comment when contacted by phone Wednesday.

'You're digging deep into things I really can't talk about,' she said.

She said council has not had any discussions about the potential of a mill coming to the area, but she declined to say if municipal staff have been in contact with officials connected to Northern Pulp.

 A spokesperson for Paper Excellence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Northern Pulp mill ceased operations in Abercrombie Point, Pictou County, in January 2020 after failing to secure approval from the provincial government to build a new effluent treatment facility.

The mill previously used Boat Harbour, a former tidal estuary by the Pictou Landing First Nation, to treat its waste.

But after a pipe break that spewed millions of litres of pulp mill effluent spurred a blockade by community members, the Liberal government of the day promised to close Boat Harbour as a treatment lagoon. Legislation was passed with all-party support in 2015 ordering an end to the mill's arrangement to use Boat Harbour by 2020.

Despite intense lobbying by the company and forestry industry to change the legislated deadline, then premier Stephen McNeil refused to budge and the mill was forced to close, removing the largest purchaser of low-grade wood products from the industry's supply chain.

Since then, the company entered creditor protection and filed a lawsuit against the province for $450 million on account of the government prematurely ending its lease to use Boat Harbour. That lawsuit and other legal wranglings have been on hold while the company and province engage in court-ordered, non-binding mediation in an effort to reach a settlement.

 Courtesy: www.cbc.ca

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