On March 29, 2019, theNova Scotia Environment minister directed Northern Pulp to submit a Focus Report to address deficiencies in its Registration Document for its proposed Replacement Effluent Treatment Facility.
In a news release yesterday (Oct 2, 2019), NSE announced that NP had submitted the report, and that “The report will be available online within 14 days once department staff have done a preliminary check to confirm it is complete.”
Evidently, that didn’t take long: the full focus report was made publicly available today (Oct 3, 2019)
From the Public Notice:
This is to advise that on October 2, 2019, the Minister of Environment received the Focus Report for the Replacement Effluent Treatment Facility Project proposed by Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation in accordance with Part IV of the Environment Act…
Copies of the Focus Report may be examined at the following locations…
The public is invited to submit written comments on or before November 8, 2019…
The full Focus Report is available at this NSE webpage
The Registration Document and Comments Received during Class I Environmental Assessment Process are also available on the same page.
Oct 26, 2019: Some rural residents have said they could not download Appendix 2.3 – Characterization of Effluent because of the large file size (173.7mb); I have made a a reduced file size version (19MB) which is available here. (The original is better for printing, but the reduced file size version is Ok for reading on a computer screen.)
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From In the News for Mar 29, 2019:
– Nova Scotia Minister of Environment determines that the registration information is insufficient to make a decision on The Pipe, requires focus report
Letter posted on novascotia.ca/nse/ea/
– Nova Scotia pulp mill owners say environmental assessment requirements put company’s operations in jeopardy
Jessica Leeder for Globe and Mail. “He [Premier McNeil] encouraged Northern Pulp “to focus on whether or not it can actually meet the environmental standards of the province. At this point, they have not,” he said. “We gave five years. This company needs to do the work.””
Tip of the hat to WWNS for alerting NSFN on this development