Province mum on allowable level of emissions from N.S. pulp mill
by The Canadian Press
Northern Pulp mill in Pictou, N.S., has been embroiled in local controversy over smells this summer
PICTOU, N.S.—Nova Scotia’s environment minister won’t say what level of emissions would lead the province to shut down Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corp., a Pictou County mill that’s under fire from local residents and businesses.
Randy Delorey says the government is waiting on results from a stack test scheduled for Aug. 18 before deciding what it will do about the mill, which has been at the centre of a local controversy because of smells that have come from the plant this summer.
Delorey says he expects those results by October and he doesn’t know whether they will be made public.
A group called Clean Pictou Air is calling on the province to do something about the particulate matter coming from the mill.
A spokesperson for Northern Pulp has said the problem lies in part with the facility’s aging equipment, which is not filtering emissions to environmental standards.
Business owners say the smell from the increased discharge is affecting the local tourism industry.
