The Boat Harbour remediation project is going to get a federal environmental assessment.
The decision by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency was released Friday night.
In a brief news release, the agency cited three factors that led to the determination: the description of the project by the proponent, Nova Scotia Lands Inc., received by the agency on Jan. 2; the possibility that carrying out the project may cause adverse environmental effects; and input received within a 20-day comment period that closed Jan. 27.
As described on the agency’s website, Nova Scotia Lands Inc. is proposing the remediation and restoration of Boat Harbour and nearby lands located next to Pictou Landing First Nation, five kilometres east of Pictou. In 1967, the provincial government constructed the Boat Harbour facility to treat effluent from industrial sources, particularly a kraft pulp mill, by turning a natural tidal estuary into what is known as a closed effluent stabilization basin.
The province plans on closing the facility and, as part of the remediation and restoration work, hazardous waste-bearing sediment would be removed and stored on-site in an existing hazardous waste landfill.
The use of the facility for the reception and treatment of effluent from the Northern Pulp mill is to end by Jan. 31, 2020, according to the Boat Harbour Act.
The company’s replacement plan involves installing a biological sludge treatment facility and pumping effluent into the Northumberland Strait. Northern Pulp has indicated it’s looking for a one-year extension to get a replacement treatment plant operating. Premier Stephen McNeil has not budged on the timeline.
The company recently registered its project with Nova Scotia’s Environment Department, submitting hundreds of pages of environmental assessment documents.
Representatives of the fishing industry and Indigenous communities have been among the vocal critics of the mill and the Boat Harbour project.
