Update on Northern Pulp Environmental Assessment Process

Press Release

February 8, 2022

The public consultation period on the draft terms of reference which Northern Pulp must use to prepare its Class II environmental assessment report closed on January 31. About 1,300 submissions were received by the Province.

A proposed Northern Pulp mill revitalization and new pulp effluent treatment facility project in Pictou County was registered for a Class II environmental assessment on December 7, 2021.

The submissions were sent to Northern Pulp Monday, February 7, and the company now has up to 21 days to respond to them. After the Department receives Northern Pulp’s response, it has 14 days to prepare the final terms of reference for the company to prepare its environmental assessment report. The Department will make the submissions public at that time as well.

After receiving the final terms of reference, the company has up to two years to submit its environmental assessment report for the proposed mill transformation and effluent treatment facility project. Once the company’s report is received, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change will refer it to an independent, appointed environmental assessment panel to oversee public consultation and evaluation of the company’s report.

The Province’s Environment Act and its regulations set out the legal framework for provincial environmental assessments of proposed major projects in Nova Scotia. Every proposal is subject to the same requirements, processes and timelines.

Quick Facts:

• Nova Scotia’s environmental assessment process is science- and evidence-based; companies are required to identify the environmental risks of their work and provide a plan to mitigate them
• the Department’s role as the regulator is to ensure companies accurately determine potential environmental impacts and plans to mitigate them
• the environmental assessment process focuses primarily on the planning and design phase of a project, not the construction phase; companies cannot construct or operate until they receive an environmental assessment approval
• if, and when, an environmental assessment is approved, companies then go through a second process, the industrial approval phase where emission targets – based on the environmental risks and mitigations identified during the environmental assessment process – are set
• a Class II environmental assessment typically takes 275 calendar days to complete, not including the time it takes the company to prepare an environmental assessment report

Additional Resources:

More information on Nova Scotia’s Class II environmental assessment is available at: https://novascotia.ca/nse/ea/docs/EA-ClassII-Infographic.pdf

-30-

IBF5