Northern Pulp critics urge N.S. government to be wary of Paper Excellence

The mayor of Pictou, and environmentalists, have urged the provincial government and municipal leaders on the South Shore to be wary in their dealings with Northern Pulp's parent company, Paper Excellence.

On Thursday, the Houston government and Paper Excellence announced they had reached a deal that would end a $450-million lawsuit against the province. That deal included confirmation that Paper Excellence would not restart its Pictou County mill and a promise to undertake a feasibility study of a new pulp mill in Liverpool.

On Friday, Mayor Jim Ryan told CBC's Maritime Noon that the four years since the mill operated have been good for his town, although the loss of jobs and the impact on woodlot owners has been hard.

He said residents have enjoyed the absence of smells from the mill and particulates in the air.

"It's been transformational," said Ryan. "We have a fair bit of both housing and commercial development happening in the town since then."

As for the possibility of a new mill elsewhere, Ryan cautioned municipalities along the South Shore.

"They weren't always forthcoming with us as municipal leaders," said Ryan. "Instead of doing everything they could to make sure the environment was protected and the health of residents was protected, I think they were looking for a minimum that could be reached."

Environmentalists were more pointed in their criticism of the company and the possibility of it setting up a new mill.

"If I were on the South Shore, especially around Liverpool, I would be very concerned that this is just making another deal with the devil," said Ray Plourde, wilderness co-ordinator at the Ecology Action Centre.

He called the new mill being considered "a type of mill which is very heavily chemically dependent and therefore produces all this pollution."

As for the potential of jobs created by a new mill, he said: "Be careful what you wish for."

Mike Lancaster, the co-ordinator of the Healthy Forest Coalition, said the province doesn't need another pulp mill. The only operating pulp mill in the province is in Port Hawkesbury, on Cape Breton Island.

He said the only way to build a business case for a new mill would be detrimental to the forest.

"[It] can't really be economically viable unless there's a large amount of consumption," said Lancaster. "So the concern is that it will continue to drive a scramble for just volume and not quality.

"It'll mean that we'll continue to target lower-grade stands, younger stands and continue [the] need to clear cut to make the economic viability case for that."

He said that would continue to "degrade our forests in the way that it has when the pulp mill at Pictou was still operational."

In an email Friday, the provincial government said the current estimated cost of cleaning up Boat Harbour, which received effluent from the Northern Pulp plant for decades, is $400 million.