Environment Minister Gordon Wilson has to decide whether to approve Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent treatment plant by Tuesday.
And Premier Stephen McNeil’s Liberals will wear whatever happens to the mill and its effluent during the next provincial election.
“I think this is an issue that would fit in the recurring nightmare field for politicians,” said Paul Black, former advisor to Darrel Dexter’s NDP government.
“I never met a politician who enters political life to be able to be in the middle of very difficult issues where there will ultimately be a lot of very unhappy people and some moderately happy people no matter what you decide.”
Promises and production
On one side is a promise made by McNeil to the Pictou Landing First Nation that the Boat Harbour effluent treatment facility that has polluted their community for over half a century will close by Jan. 31, 2020. Allied with the Pictou Landing First Nation are non-aboriginal fishery associations from the three Maritime provinces and a broad coalition of concerned citizens who don’t want the kraft pulp mill’s effluent going into the Northumberland Strait.
On the other side is a forestry industry that relies upon Northern Pulp as a central pillar of its sustainability. The mill consumes over a million tonnes of woodchips annually produced primarily as waste at this province’s sawmills and as a low-value product taken during cuts for sawable logs that supply the mills. It is an industry that employs over ten thousand primarily rural Nova Scotians in areas with few other decent paying jobs.
Both fishing and forestry are mainstays of the rural economy and they are arrayed on opposing sides of this no-win situation for the government.
Even if the environmental approval is granted, it only results in another decision just as thorny as the first.
Does McNeil break a promise to Pictou Landing and use his majority to force an extention of the Boat Harbour Act to allow the mill and the forestry sector to continue operating while a new facility is built?
“So what is the right decision?” asks Black.
“You can balance the pros and cons on a white board and probably come out relatively equal.”
Historical hooks
A history of decisions by our own elected leaders, including Black’s one-term NDP government, have put us on the hook financially for whatever is decided.
The taxpayer is already burdened with the over $200 million (and climbing) estimated cost of cleaning up the existing Boat Harbour effluent treatment facility, which is owned by the province.
And contractual obligations signed and renewed by Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments put us on the hook for at least part of the over $100 million cost of building a new effluent treatment facility because the Boat Harbour Act breaks Northern Pulp’s lease to the old one a decade early.
A close reading of the lease and indemnity agreements appears to show they also make us responsible for some lost profits if the mill is forced to shut because an environmental assessment is not approved.
TWO PERSPECTIVES ON NORTHERN PULP:
Expected Northern Pulp decision churns up worries on the water
Looming Northern Pulp decision could chip away at forestry business
Then there’s the cost of lost economic activity if the mill shuts and sawmills start going down.
Whatever decision is made will be viewed in the context of this apparent conflict of interest by the provincial government. Both the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal and Supreme Court have stated in recent rulings that at least the appearance of this conflict exists.
So why not kick it up to feds – as has been the request of fishermen and First Nations?
“If there is jurisdictional ambiguity then most governments will try and punt or try and at least rope in other levels of government so it feels more comfortable,” said Black.
But the federal government has already been punting a decision on whether to demand a longer, more thorough federal assessment.
Blackout
A Chronicle Herald freedom of information request showed they’d received a recommendation from the then Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency in March on whether it should go to a federal assessment. But the ultimate recommendation was blacked out and whatever it was, the federal government didn’t act on it.
Instead they asked for a new recommendation under a changed act that got them past the October federal election and then punted a decision again until next Friday – three days after Wilson is obligated to announce his decision.
Asked if he thought the federal government wanted to step in, Black was quick with a “No.”
“…With a federal minority government and an MP who did win fairly handily they would also be looking at what if Peter MacKay comes back for the federal Conservatives. They’re not unaware of not wanting their local MPs to wear that decision if they can avoid.”
But the premier met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this week. Afterward McNeil said Northern Pulp wasn't up for discussion, but it must have been the elephant in the room.
With the issue about to come to a head there are a lot of Nova Scotians with a lot at stake.
Along with this story on page A4 are profiles of two of them.
Two rural Nova Scotians separated by hundreds of kilometres who judging by their temperaments and interests would likely get a long quite well if put in a room together.
Two people just trying to carve a living for themselves in the hardscrabble economies of the communities they were born to.
Whatever is decided in Halifax and Ottawa will hurt one of them.
“As a politician you should remember that you are relatively removed from the consequences of your decisions,” said Black.
“You can try and put yourselves in the shoes of people who are personally affected but you can’t wear them.”
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