Northern Pulp agreement: British Columbia Supreme Court to decide

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge must decide the fate of an agreement reached between Northern Pulp and the Government of Nova Scotia.

At the heart of the deal is the permanent closure of the company’s pulp mill in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, and a promise to consider opening a new mill in Liverpool. A $450 million lawsuit against the province would also be withdrawn.

If the agreement is approved, Paper Excellencethe parent company of Northern Pulppromised to immediately begin work to determine the feasibility of building and operating a new pulp mill in the South Shore community that formerly housed the Mersey Paper Companyfounded in 1929.

The last owners of the Liverpool plant, Resolute Forest Products, announced the closure of this facility in 2012.

A group of forestry owners, former mill workers and their families were pleased to learn of the possibility of a new mill in Liverpool.

Some have fears

Local MP Kim Masland acknowledges that some constituents are concerned about having to endure what Pictou residents have endured for decades.

Certainly, since the announcement, I have heard people say that the smell concerns themshe says. Obviously, that concerns me too.

I grew up in Queens County. I live in Liverpool. I have no plans to leave, but I think the feasibility study will answer all these questions.

Kim Masland said she was encouraged that a new factory would use the latest technology and be built to meet today’s environmental standards.

We know that if the construction of this factory were to go ahead, it would be state of the art, very similar to what we see in some factories in Finlandspecifies the MP.

Cost of cleaning

Should the feasibility study determine that a new mill would not be sufficiently profitable, the agreement broadly sets out Paper Excellence’s obligations to repay provincial loans and clean up the Abercrombie Point mill site . Tim Houston admitted that this worries him.

Of course, we are concerned and considering the future of the Pictou sitehe said. What’s going on there and how much it’s going to cost, we won’t really know until other things are determined.

The liberal leader Zach Churchill also worries about cleaning costs. According to the agreement, Paper Excellence will book $15 million for cleaning and maintenance of the Northern Pulp site and will implement a site closure plan.

We need to know what the total cost will beinsists Zach Churchill. We also need to know if there will be a plan to clean up this horrible place.

According to him, there is a moral, environmental and ethical imperative to clean the site.

The leader of the NDP, Claudia Chender, agrees. She says her party is extremely concerned through the cleaning process.

Northern Pulp”,”text”:”Frankly, this should have been at the forefront of any deal with Northern Pulp”}}”>Frankly, this should have been at the forefront of any agreement with Northern Pulpshe laments.

With information from Jean Laroche, CBC