Two-year extension granted for Boat Harbour cleanup studies

The Nova Scotia agency responsible for managing the cleanup of Boat Harbour has been granted a two-year extension to submit information and environmental studies on the project.

In April, Nova Scotia Lands asked the federal Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) for the extension, saying they needed more time to complete the required studies.

On Tuesday, the IAAC granted that extension, giving a new deadline of Aug. 28, 2024.

Ken Swain, the project lead for Nova Scotia Lands, said it's unlikely the full two years will be needed, but the extension could push back the cleanup timeline. That depends largely on whether the IAAC has further questions, he said.

Nova Scotia Lands has been tasked with developing a plan for cleaning up Boat Harbour, a body of water near Pictou Landing First Nation that for decades received wastewater effluent from the Northern Pulp mill. Contaminants from industry built up in the sediment in Boat Harbour. On Jan. 31, 2020, effluent was no longer permitted to be deposited there.

The cleanup had previously been expected to begin in 2021 at the earliest and be completed in 2025. Swain said the best-case scenario now is that the IAAC approves the project in 2022 or 2023 and the remediation begins in late 2023 or 2024. The remediation is expected to take four to seven years to complete. 

"We would have liked to be in the position to have been starting to clean up now. So with the cleanup, we can't really do anything until we get an approval decision," Swain said in an interview.

Frustration with delays

The extension request from Nova Scotia Lands hints at frustration about how the IAAC has handled the process so far.

Nova Scotia Lands filed its environmental impact assessment for the remediation proposal in early 2019. It wasn't until 2021 that the IAAC made four sets of requests over seven months for further information, with 82 specific items. 

"They were kind of drawn out over the year, which, you know, kept us at work. We could have dealt with them probably more efficiently or in a more timely manner had we got them all in one crack," Swain said.

While the agency has been working diligently to provide timely responses to the information requests (IR), Swain notes in his letter "there is no clarity on when IR issuance will continue and be completed."

"The proponent has neither control over the issuance of IRs nor confidence with assessing the duration when IAAC will continue to put forward IRs."

The IAAC sent a second round of 23 information requests in April, and correspondence indicated more requests could be on their way.

Swain's letter notes other delays as well: the IAAC faced impediments in engaging with other federal departments, which affected Nova Scotia Lands's ability to collaborate with experts. A late submission of technical comments from Pictou Landing First Nation and difficulty in scheduling meetings with the First Nation's leadership also delayed the development of Nova Scotia Lands's environmental impact statement, the letter says.

Pictou Landing First Nation Chief Andrea Paul said in an email statement she and council do not oppose the extension.

Cost expected to increase

Swain said he's as eager as anyone else to complete the project, both because Pictou Landing First Nation and the surrounding communities want to see the polluted lagoon revert to a tidal estuary, but also for budgetary reasons.

Last year, the estimated cost of the project rose by $11 million to about $310 million due to inflation and cost uncertainty.

That number is likely to rise again this year.

"Prior to, say, last year, inflation didn't seem to be a material factor in big major projects like this. But now I think it's hitting everybody across the board," he said.

Swain said he couldn't provide an updated budget figure until the release of the public accounts for 2021-22 later this year. That document represents the official close of the books for the previous fiscal year.