Business and Public Consultation Meetings scheduled for the Abercrombie, Nova Scotia Pulp Mill Effluent Treatment Facility Replacement EA

With less than a week notice for the public

I was forwarded an e-mail (dated Nov 27, 2017, addressed to “Forestry Supplier”) with this information:

Dillon Consulting Limited (Dillon) has been retained by Northern Pulp Nova Scotia (NPNS) to initiate an Environmental Assessment study for the construction of a replacement effluent treatment facility at the Northern Pulp Mill located in Abercrombie, Nova Scotia.

Information on the proposed facility and the Environmental Assessment process can be found on the project website: www.NorthernPulpEffluentTreatmentFacility.ca. We invite you to the first project Open House. It will be a drop-in session format and held at two locations, with the same information presented at each. Local businesses are invited to attend in advance of the public session in order to address questions specific to your interests.

Tuesday December 5, 2017 Glasgow Square 155 Riverside Parkway New Glasgow LOCAL BUSINESSES: 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm PUBLIC: 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Wednesday December 6, 2017 Abercrombie Fire Hall 2030 Granton Abercrombie Road Granton LOCAL BUSINESSES: 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm PUBLIC: 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm

You are welcome to attend either the business or public session, as your schedule allows. Our goal for this first Open House is to share information about the project, gather information on the existing conditions (natural and social), answer questions, and identify key areas of consideration.

The website at www.NorthernPulpEffluentTreatmentFacility.ca provides technical details, contact addresses, forms etc for written comments.

View also:

Fishermen protest pipe proposal
Sam MacDonald for The News Nov. 30, 2017. The article cites Kathy Cloutier, director of communications for Northern Pulp “Cloutier noted the proposed design for the replacement treatment facility is entering a public consultation stage, and in those sessions and engagements, the company will present the design and “obtain specific concerns and questions regarding the project.” No mention that the first Open House session would be held the following week.

Fishermen’s Association question “dilution as the solution” for effluent from Pictou pulp mill
Post Nov 19, 2017

Dirty Dealing: Northern Pulp Mill and the province are set to roll the dice with Boat Harbour’s replacement, but a cleaner alternative exists by Linda Pannozzo in the Halifax Examiner, Nov 22, 2017. Comprehensive examination of the options for managing the effluent from the Northern Pulp mill.

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These open house sessions are not listed on the Pictou News Calendar today (Dec 1).* It’s a curious procedure whereby those with vested interests received advance notice (Nov 27) of the public consultations which will occur less than a week away once the public is given notice. Perhaps the Mi’kmaq and fishers were also sent advance invitations.

*Dec 2, 2017. There are no notices about the Open House sessions in The News as an ad or story early this am; nor in the Chronicle Herald this am. There is a notice about it on the welcoming page for www.NorthernPulpEffluentTreatmentFacility.ca but it seems that the meetings have not yet been publicized more broadly with only 3 or 4 days to go. The domain for the website www.NorthernPulpEffluentTreatmentFacility.ca was registered 2017/10/30 by Dillon Consulting Limited. The site is hosted on sites.google.com; a google search suggests it “went live” 5 days ago.